The sailboats that rocked in the safety of Mikrolimanos had nothing to do with the boat that plays the main role in Phaedon Tamvakakis’ novel The Last Post, published by Hestia. The liner sailed from Cape Town and headed for the volcanic island of St. Helena, to which Napoleon the Great was exiled, a point in the middle of the Atlantic. However, the Hellenic Naval Association (NOE) was the geographically best place to present Alexandrinos’ latest writing project on Tuesday night. Against the backdrop of a blue horizon, we also had the feeling that we were going somewhere with the hero of the book, Antonis Marcello, a bankrupt cement manufacturer who at one time was threatened with the collapse of a 100-year-old business.

Born in Egypt in 1960 to a family whose name is associated with the famous Metropole Hotel, Tamvakakis came to Greece when he was just three years old. He studied economics and English literature and served them both faithfully and masterfully. On the one hand, he devoted many years of his life to translating Fowles into Greek, as well as writing his own novels and short stories. On the other hand, he founded a very successful mutual fund management company. The common denominator of his entire career is his love of the sea and sailing (today he is President of the Andros Nautical Club). After all, all of his books have a liquid element in the background. This time, in The Last Post, he managed to collect on 350 pages the acquired knowledge from his two professional activities, reading and traveling around the world on ships or without them. Because the story of Marcellus and his Marenko industry is a story about the history of Greece itself in the last century through business. During a short trip to Agia Eleni, the protagonist meets real fellow travelers in the cabin of the ship, as well as many who are taken from his memories. Through this continuous transition of personalities (many of them are absolutely real and remind the reader of many things, but Tamvakakis kindly changed their names) the economic and social mosaic of our country is being formed from 1920 to the financial crisis.

The author was joined by his close friend, businessman and former head of SEV Theodoros Fessas, and philologist and literary critic Aristotelis Sainis, who spoke about both Tamvakakis and his final thoughts. Of course, the show was stolen by Nineta Vafia, who read excerpts from the book, making us believe that we, too, were on deck next to Marcello, with the Atlantic wind blowing in our faces.