Description

An intimate portrait of Yanis Varoufakis’s political awakening, told through the history of his extraordinary family

‘Gripping and unforgettable. It reads like a thriller’ BRIAN ENO

Dramatic in scope and deep in feeling, Raise Your Soul traces three generations swept up in the whirlwind of history, across a century of occupation, civil war, Cold War fracture and economic crisis, from 1924 to the present.

At its heart are Eleni, Anna, Trisevgeni, Georgia and Danae – the women who shaped the visionary economist most, and whose resilience and courage inspire us to resist the forces of authoritarianism that still haunt our world.

‘Written with a historian’s grasp of events, an economist’s rationalisation of how things work and, most of all, a storyteller’s understanding of the human condition, this is not just Varoufakis’s story, but ours’ IRVINE WELSH

‘Beautiful and inspiring, I couldn’t put it down’ ROSIE HOLT

‘Fierce … to sit with Varoufakis’s words is a gift’ ESTHER ANATOLITIS

Publisher Review

This is a gripping book – written with compassion and wit – by a uniquely gifted and multi-faceted writer. It’s a history of modern Greece, it’s a biography of an extraordinary family, and sometimes it reads like a thriller. Most of all though it’s a humble homage to the truly unusual women who have moulded and enriched Yanis Varoufakis’s unusual life. I strongly recommend it — Brian Eno A deeply heart-breaking, funny and enraging portrait * Greek Herald * Behind every good man there’s a good woman. In Yanis Varoufakis’s case, there are several. Written with a historian’s grasp of events, an economist’s rationalization of how things work, and most of all, a storyteller’s understanding of the human condition, this is not just their story, but ours — Irvine Welsh I read with huge interest, enjoyment – and enlightenment — Paul Cartledge Beautiful and inspiring, I couldn’t put it down — Rosie Holt A fierce work tracing Greece’s past century – war, civil war, occupation, dictatorship, resistance – through five of the most powerful women in Varoufakis’s life. … Five women who tell truths, take risks, and protect family; women who organise – despite illiteracy or social status; women whose resolve shows us how class differences in education, networks, and resources determine collusion or resistance, life or death. To read this book as memoir, biography, or autobiography, however, is to diminish its impact: this is an unmistakably political work that tells your story just as profoundly as it reveals mine. … Raise Your Soul sits alongside Christos Tsiolkas’s Dead Europe, Marcel Ophuls’s The Sorrow and the Pity, and, of course, Costa-Gavras’s Z …To sit with Varoufakis’s words is a gift: a masterful writer and orator, his practice champions the interconnectedness of the cultural and the civic — Esther Anatolitis * Australian Book Review * A new book by Yanis Varoufakis, one of the most important political figures of our times, is always momentous — Ken Loach