The Goodtime Girl

by Tess Fragoulis

  loukoumi: Turkish Delight

  mangha: tough guy

  manghissa: tough girl

  manghites: young toughs

  meltemi: strong August wind

  mezzedes: hors d’oeuvres

  narghile: hookah, waterpipe

  outi: oud

  pitsiriki: little fellow

  putana: prostitute, whore

  rebetiko: Greek urban folk music, combining influences from European and Middle Eastern music. Often referred to as the Greek Blues.

  retsina: Greek white (or rosé) resinated wine

  skordalia: potato and garlic puree

  tekke: hash den, from the Turkish word for Dervish convent

  tiropites: cheese pies

  toumbeleki: round, flat drum

  tsifteteli: Greek belly dance

  tsipouro: eau de vie, moonshine

  xenos: foreigner

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  THIS NOVEL HAS BEEN A long time in the making, and many people helped me along the way, providing historical and musical expertise, editorial feedback, readerly insight, and friendly support and encouragement. Among them are Michel Basilieres, Alan Bourassa, Marylin Casselman, Sally Cooper, Michael Devine, Steve Heighton, Susan Lamond, Andrew McCrae, Athanasios Sklavis, Tanya Tree, Helen Tsiriotakis, William Weintraub, the members of the Rembetiko Forum, the Rebetiko Hipsters, and the staff of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies in Athens. I thank them all for their contributions, and I hope anyone not mentioned by name knows that his/her help was appreciated. I would like to express profound gratefulness to Cigdem Erkal Ipek and her father, Ali Erkal, who welcomed me into Izmir as if I were a prodigal daughter, and showed me what remained of Smyrna. Thanks also to my agent, Samantha Haywood, whose enthusiasm and belief in this book never flagged. The support of The Canada Council of the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and CUPFA’s Professional Development Fund was instrumental in the extensive research and the writing of this book. Finally, I would like to thank Cormorant Books for publishing this novel in a climate where literary fiction is increasingly a labour of love and a feat of daring against all odds.

  AMONG THE BOOKS THAT INFORMED my research are Marjorie Housepian Dobkin’s, Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City; George Horton’s, The Blight of Asia; and Gail Holst-Warhaft’s, Road to Rembetika: Music of the Greek Sub-culture. There were also many books written in Greek, including memoirs, eye-witness accounts, academic studies, and other types of narratives from both Smyra and Piraeus that helped me enter into the spirit and the time of the two places. Finally, Costa Ferris’s film, Rembetiko, also had an influence on my understanding of time, place and culture.