Vickie's second book delves into the history of her parents immigration from Greece to Australia in the early 1960s.
Exploring the difficulties and many problems her parents encountered when they decided to emigrate. Telling the story from her perspective as she grew up with her two older siblings, Vickie delves into how the migration of that era shaped the second generation and the wider family.
"I grew up in a Greek traditional family, with two parents trying desperately to keep their Greek life alive, along with habits and attitudes from another era," explains Vickie.
"I found that the way they lived, the food cooked by our mother, their Greek accent and struggle to embrace a foreign society for themselves without betraying the Greek mentality, their habits and principles, and the customs of their homeland ultimately had interesting psychological effects not only for themselves but also contributed dramatically to the shaping of my own personality and those of my siblings," she says in the Neos Cosmos.
"My aim is to highlight the history of the first generation and at the same time to shed light on another aspect of the Greek history of foreignness that concerns the children of these immigrants, the second generation Greeks born in Australia, who grew up in a highly 'Greek' strict, conservative and often alienated (due to the circumstances and mindset) environment, which shaped their life and psychology. "
Vickie aims for her this book to be cleansing not only for herself but also for readers who, through her own stories, will recognize the history of their own family .
"Writing this book will help me to understand my own parents better, and it will make an important contribution to getting to know my roots in an attempt to know myself better than I already do, where I come from and what I want to do with my life. I hope that the same will happen to those who choose to read my book."
Read the full article (Greek) at Neos Kosmos