A Grain of soil or the Ruby-Fugitives

A Grain of Soil is a speculative, fictitious post-war drama, balancing survival with moral confrontation. It is set in two very different post-war worlds: The autocratic state of Ruby-Land where human rights and wrongs, equality, beliefs and reality, are all mingled to create a novel society, based on merciless obedience to the governing few, and, a small, old democratic society, the Cockle, – a self-sustained people living peacefully, in a far-away cluster of unspoiled islands, somewhere, in the South Pacific blues. Jason and Constance, are members of the elite class in the unique, complex and industrialized State, the ‘Ruby-Land’. Seeking to appease distressing memories relating to the loss of a child and the regime’s cruel treatment and in the hope to rebuild their lives free from State restrictions and rules, they escape to Cockle, a far-away, and unspoiled island where an old-fashioned, peaceful and welcoming community thrives in isolation. Though both grateful for their reception by the locals and the means to sustain themselves, they gradually realize that adjustment to an easy life and boredom comparing to their former home, becomes a challenge to which Jason seems inept to handle. Will they succeed to lighten their inner troubles of memory and self-reproaching and adapt to this novel way of life? Diamantoula’s new novel is another irresistible page-turner. It blends the sentiments of love, honor and prejudices into a twisting moral dilemma calling for audacious solutions. A reading must.