James William Brown’s My Last Lament is a poignant and evocative novel of one Greek woman’s story of her own—and her nation’s—epic struggle in the aftermath of World War II. In a letter to librarians, he expresses his deep gratitude and explains how important libraries have been throughout the process of writing this novel, and his life. Aliki is one of the last of her kind, a lamenter who mourns and celebrates the passing of life. Her last lament begins in a village in northeast Greece, where Aliki witnesses the occupying Nazi soldiers execute her father for stealing squash. Taken in by…
