Seven-year-old Sophia watches her mother leave their family home without a good-bye or explanation-a mysterious departure that becomes her worry stone. Decades later, when she returns to Greece from her adopted home in America, she uncovers a family story she had never been told. 2021 American Writing Awards Winner in Best Cover Design: Non-Fiction
2021 American Writing Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir

“The mystery of a mother’s loss and a daughter’s search to reclaim her drive this engaging memoir. Family secrets, conflicting Old and New World traditions, and poignant scenes of intergenerational and cultural struggles bring to life a vivid portrait of Greece. For readers discovering their ancestral roots, this is a must- read; lively, very moving, and inspiring.”
—BRENDA PETERSON, author of Your Life is a Book

“Sophia Kouidou-Giles is a masterful storyteller. Sophia’s Return takes us into a compelling tale of reclaiming the past that speaks profoundly to our need to make sense of our lives’ central mysteries. Nuanced, rich, and evocative, it will keep you up reading late into the night.”
—THEO PAULINE NESTOR, author of Writing Is My Drink

“A deeply considered investigation of family dynamics and the secrets that in many families go unchallenged but in this one find resolution through tenacity and eventual forgiveness.”
—JEAN GILBERTSON, author of Dancing on the Whisper of God

“Sophia Kouidou-Giles has a social scientist’s eye for family systems and a writer’s eye for secrets therein. She exhumes the past with compassion and curiosity, bringing to fore the atmospheric history of Greece . . . Sophia’s Return is a lyrical story and beautiful read, full of sensory detail and cultural richness.”
—RENÉE E. D’AOUST, author of Body of a Dancer

“Sophia’s Return will draw you in. It’ll take you back in time. It reminds us the effects of secret-keeping, and that in our quest to protect children, sometimes we create more problems. After reading this story, I felt like Sophia was an old friend. I experienced her highs and lows with her. This book will tug at your heartstrings and make you rethink keeping family secrets. I can’t wait for her next book.”
—MARIA A. KARAMITSOS, founder of WindyCity Greek