I have such luck with my friends, it’s a lovely thing to be able to celebrate their achievements on my blog. I generally give people their privacy and celebrate privately, but this is a book and you should know by now that I celebrate books loudly and openly on my blog. Today’s celebration is Sally Jane Smith’s second published book, Repacking for Greece.
Smith was meant to be travelling to Canada for family reasons. Good family reasons rather than sad. But when she applied for an eTA, a permit to enter Canada, she hit a very large stumbling block. When we travelled to Canada before Covid we easily ticked ‘No’ to the question about whether we’d been convicted or arrested in any country and our eTA came through fairly quickly. Smith was honest and ticked ‘Yes’. This question explains the first chapter which is set in South Africa. Smith was arrested there for her activism during the Apartheid era. The bureaucracy she needed to go through in order to fulfil the requirements set down by Canada was a nightmare. In the end she gave up waiting for Canada and booked her trip for Greece. The eTA for Canada came through, but not in time, she’d already changed her booking from Canada to Greece. And we got to follow her through Greece for a second time.
One issue she talks about a little in this book is consent. In the past she would have shared photos of children on social media without a thought. But this time she decided not to do so without consent. It’s a little entry in the book, but very important. I’ve never shared photos of my family on social media without asking them first. Sometimes they’ve agreed and sometimes they’ve asked me not to. It’s a rule I’ve followed since getting my first computer in 1999. It’s often discussed at conventions. People will go to great lengths to make cosplay for the event, but just because they’ve done this doesn’t mean they’re happy to have their photo taken and shared around social media. Many of the conventions I attend talk about not taking photos without consent. They have also needed to include that you shouldn’t touch people without consent. The number of cosplayers who have had unwanted attention is unbelievable.
Following straight on from this Smith takes me back to Jordan. No, she wasn’t in Jordan, but there are some things that transcend country lines. In this case she was strolling past the foundations of a synagogue built in the fifth century, in Albania, when sounds of the meuzzin’s call to prayer came ringing out. This took my memory right back to Jordan. We were having dinner on the top of the hotel right near Petra when the meuzzin’s call to prayer came ringing out. It was beautiful and I’m sure the sounds Smith heard in Albania were just as beautiful.
Moving onto Kefalonia. It is here that Smith finishes reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. A book I’ve had in my hands and never read. I should take this as a sign that I’m meant to read it. The book is set in Kefalonia and Smith seems to read a lot of books while she’s travelling in the setting of the book. She talks about the earthquake which shook the pages of the book. That must be some powerful writing, but it also indicates a good reader. And that’s what I’ve seen in the pages of Smith’s books, the power in her writing takes me there, to wherever she’s travelled.
Smith shows us the concern she has for the pack donkeys in Hydra. This is the same concern she shows throughout both books and in real life for people. Apparently these donkeys were left in sun-drenched places with no water and no shade. Some years later she sees a photo in which there is a row of umbrellas shading the donkeys. She hopes there is also water for them.
My last point is about the name Hephaestus, the god of volcanoes. She mentions seeing road signs bearing the word for ‘volcano’ in Greek: ifaisteio. She feels that this word is derived from Hephaestus and it sounds entirely reasonable to me. But the reason I mention it is because Hephaestus was the name of a character in The Last Murder at the End of the World. I read the books back to back and so this Greek name was in my mind. I can’t help wondering if this name was used for the character in The Last Murder at the End of the World for a reason. He did seem to have a temper. Now I’m wondering if I need to reread that book and look up some of the other names. Smith always has me thinking
Just before she closes the book she gives some words about systemic injustice. And about how she had privileges that others didn’t have, and that she had them ‘as a direct result of it being denied to someone else’. Those with the privileges might not understand, but those without will read her words and realise that there are some white people who do understand the privilege they’ve had. I’m going to leave you with a paragraph from her book. It’s succinct and explains far better than I could.
That’s the thing about privilege that comes from systemic injustice. It’s not about how much we have, it’s that others don’t.
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