The Firewalkers — Francis King

First published in 1956, under the pseudonym Frank Cauldwell, this accomplished comedy of manners is set among British expatriates and exotic locals in a Greece still undiscovered by tourism. Written with an infectious enjoyment and good humour, the story of the flamboyant and temperamental Colonel Theodore Grecos and his devotion to the completely unsophisticated Gtz Joachim provides Francis King with ample scope for his mastery of ironic observation. In the Introduction to this edition, the author explains how The Firewalkers came to be written, born out of the exhilarating sense of liberation that came to me on first setting foot in Athens.