Hydra in Winter - by Dark (Paperback)

About the Book

When Shelley goes to Hydra to track her husband's pirate ancestor-Australia's first Greek convict-her urgent quest turns into a lesson in slow travel: food, history, and Greek hospitality. Fall in love with Hydra-and with Shelley.

Book Synopsis

Global Book Awards 2025 Gold Medal Winner

When I land solo on the Greek island of Hydra for two weeks in the dead of winter, I'm not chasing sunny beaches. I'm hunting a pirate-my husband's great-great-grandfather and Australia's first Greek convict.

Armed with an umbrella, a cashmere scarf, and zero Greek skills, I'm ready to conquer the archives. But Hydra has other ideas: fresh seafood, exhilarating hikes, cats, donkeys, and warm, eccentric locals. What starts as a frantic quest soon turns into a lesson in slow travel, with the bonus of a midlife reset.

Reading Hydra in Winter is like drinking a bottomless glass of champagne - bubbly, refreshing, and bound to make you laugh.

-Kyra Geddes, author of The Story Thief

Funny, warm, and sparkling, Hydra in Winter will enchant solo travellers, lovers of travel books, history buffs, Philhellenes, aspiring seadogs, procrastinating novelists, seasoned travellers and armchair adventurers, and anyone trying to keep the spark alive at any age.

Chrónos is the measured, ticking seconds of daily life; kairós represents those rare, significant moments that transcend ordinary time. Hydra is kairós. -Shelley Dark

Review Quotes

"Reading Hydra in Winter is like drinking a bottomless glass of champagne; bubbly, refreshing, and bound to make you laugh."