Novel set on 1960s Hydra – Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson

Submitted: 26th April 2020

Hydra hedonism here we go!

Novel set on 1960s Hydra – Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson – There are certain places that just cry out for a story of hedonistic games to be set there. Somewhere where the sun shines and the people shine even brighter. The Theatre of Dreamers is one such book.

Booktrail the locations in A Theatre for Dreamers

Setting: Oh the wonderful island of Hydra (and in the 1960s too!)

Booktrail the locations in A Theatre for Dreamers

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Novel set on 1960s Hydra – Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson

A group of famous faces, dreamers, writers and arty types from the pages of history gather on this sunny paradise of Hydra for a summer of fun and goodness knows what else. There’s quite a crowd here too; the Norwegian writer Axel Jensen, and two authors from Australia by the names of George Johnston and Charmian Clift. Perhaps the most well- known and iconic from the group is the writer Leonard Cohen.

At this point, the book could have a subheading of ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’. A young and innocent teenager, Erica, wanders into their midst. Her late mum knew one of the writers, and Erica has always been keen to explore that more. It’s not hard to leave as her father is impossible to live with. She leaves for Hydra, desperately wanting to connect with her mother, her memory and to see what she can find out about her mother’s legacy.

As Erica finds out more than she bargained for, the entire web of deceit builds up around the island of Hydra. It’s painted as paradise with its yellows and golds contrasted with clear blue seas.

Booktrail the locations in A Theatre for Dreamers

“ Spice-coloured rocks, scrub, brush, acid yellow, herb. Pitched orange roofs and salt-white houses that rise to the gods, all eyes to the port.“

Yet those calm seas can reveal dangerous undercurrents as Erica is yet to find out. It’s deliciously dark as the reader to see the Mr Ripley-esque cast weave their spells and cracks their whips over each other. Love and war are two sides of the same coin it would seem. It’s a glorious setting in the 1960s and the author transports you there in very immersive writing with all the hot of the sun of your face and the thrill of being amongst such artistic people.

I felt I was walking in a dreamy haze and almost felt like a cocktail or two myself. What a web we weave? What effect does a summer of feeling that you are invincible and a powerful sense of hedonism have on a group of characters? This is tawdry, exciting and complex as it is fascinating, amd I felt I really got to know about Leonard Cohen and his appearance and role in the novel really is quite captivating.

Erica’s story and discovery is like a current of that sea around the rocky cliff edges that moves and weaves and smacks up against the harsh reality of life. The island now is not the care-free setting it was at the start of the novel.

The setting for me is ultimately the start of the show as Hydra imposes its spell over everyone on it and draws the reader in completely. It’s Hydra and its allure that’s the real story here.