'Vivid yet dream-like, wise and intimate, A Rope of Vines reveals in spare, poetic language a world of fishermen and nuns, and villagers driven wild in a white-hot wilderness.Chamberlain is unsentimental yet passionate about the harsh, raw beauty of the island and the solace of sea and wind.Mesmerising and wonderful - a classic to be read and re-read.' Jennifer BarclayA beautiful and personal account of Brenda Chamberlain's life on the Greek island of Hydra in the early 1960s. Sights, sounds, colours, sea and harbour, mountain and monastery, her neighbours and friends are unforgettably brought to life; as are the emotions and warring desires within her. Both in the intensity and force of the writing and the eloquent island drawings, A Rope of Vines has become a modern classic.