An unpublished novel by Dido Sotiriou titled “The Children of Spartacus” has been released and is available in bookstores. The unknown novel was presented by Nikos Beloyannis, son of the senior Nikos Beloyannis and Elli Pappa, and Eri Stavropoulou, a professor of Philology at the University of Athens who edited the book, and took place among Sotiriou’s friends and other journalists.
The fragmentary novel titled “The Children of Spartacus” was discovered among 600 manuscripts found at Dido Sotiriou’s home, and in her safe deposit box at the National Bank of Greece in Syntagma Square.
“For the initial story of the book (The Children of Spartacus), Dido Sotiriou was inspired when she would visit her sister Elli Pappa in prison, during the late 50’s and the beginning of the next decade”. Listening to the stories of women from Thrace, who were held as political prisoners, she elaborated on her heroes and incidents she experienced because of her work, explained Nikos Beloyannis.
She started working on the novel in 1963 after her “Bloodstained Lands” novel, writing during the dictatorship period. She rented a safe deposit box at the National Bank of Greece and every time she would conclude two chapters, she would carry them from her home in Vassilika Istiaias and take them to Athens by bus, in order to hide them at the safe deposit box.
After her novel “We are Being Demolished” was published, she began to study “The Children of Spartacus” again, in 1990.
However, due to other commitments and her health condition, she did not manage to complete her work.
Eri Stavropoulou, worried at first about the completion of the book, mentioned that no one added a single word, as she would gradually discover herself that the novel was almost complete without any gaps for the readers.
The novel is set in Thrace during the first two decades of the 20th century, and in Athens during the first post-civil war era, mainly dealing with the syndication and resistance activities of its heroes, who were inspired by the rebellion of Spartacus, the Thracian slaves and ideals of the Left, at a time when the country was experiencing dramatic moments.
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