The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou

It's 1954 and a young mother has been brutally murdered. There is only one suspect and that is her mother-in-law who had been staying with the family. It's a terrible crime and the newspapers make much of the fact that the accused is a Greek woman from Cyprus who speaks no English and therefore requires an interpreter to help her throughout the court proceedings.

The interpreter, Eva, is also Greek and the police come to her as and when she is needed, but she has never dealt with a case as serious as this one and it requires her to spend a great deal of time with Zina Pavlou who has been sent to Holloway Prison while awaiting trial. During their time together Eva becomes quite protective towards Zina but feels powerless to do anything to help as she is only there to record what has been said and must not interfere.

The plot-line is based on a true story and it becomes quite gripping as we learn more about Zina and her past life back home in Cyprus. The author incorporates questions of morality alongside the police case and it becomes clear that there is a great deal of prejudice against Zina just because she doesn't speak English.

I'm not surprised that it was selected for the Between the Covers programme on BBC2 as there would be a lot to talk about around post-war suspicion of foreigners and the unquestioned power of men in authority. The author has written a note at the end outlining the original murder case and she has stuck closely to the key events that happened in real life.

I found it a reallyy good read and the whole story felt very authentic to the period.

Comments

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