Greek wedding (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nearly twenty years since I read Jane Aiken Hodge’s historical novel ‘Greek wedding’. Unsurprisingly, I had entirely forgotten what it was about, and all the characters involved. It’s set in the 1820s, during the Greek war of independence, something I knew very little about.

Phyllida is the heroine of this novel, and we first meet her when she and her aunt Cressida are making a desperate escape from a Sultan’s harem in Constantinople. They plead to be taken about the ship Helena, which is owned by the grumpy Brett Renshaw. Indeed, Brett is not just irritable, but very depressed, and considering ending everything. 

The two women are rescued, though Brett is not happy about it, and they soon learn that Helena was supposed to have been his honeymoon ship. But when he learned that he was not to be a Duke, due to a baby being born to his uncle, she jilted him - or, rather, made him appear to jilt her. It’s not surprising that he’s unhappy.

Phyllida (who is American) explains that she was sailing with her father’s ship, hoping to find her brother Peter who had run away from home and joined the Greek army. They had not heard from him in a long time, and feared the worst. Then their ship was attacked by Turks, and their father killed, while she and her aunt were taken to the harem. 

Brett and Phyllida are befriended by a young Greek man called Alexandros who is charming on the surface, and says he knows Peter well. He taught Peter Greek, and Peter taught him English, and they are like brothers. 

Alex is eager to find out where Peter is, too, and is able to get messages to and from him sometimes. Alex is also helpful in turning away pirates - a huge problem in the district - and helping them to find safe mooring spots. And he’s clearly quite enamoured of Phyllida, who, in turn, is flattered at his attention.

Brett’s sister Jenny appears part-way through the book; she’s very young, but has also run away from home, and is travelling on a ‘packet’ ship. She’s kind and caring, and quite canny too; she quickly adopts Cassandra as an aunt, and even permits her to continue her education, which is - so far - very sparse.

Much of the story involves skirmishes - and worse - between Turks and Greeks, and sometimes internal ones. Both sides can be brutal, and nobody quite knows who can be trusted. I didn’t follow all the politics, or the places, or the battles. I recognised the names of some historical characters (such as Lord Byron, who was leading a Greek army and was killed shortly before the story begins). But the writing is clever enough that, at least to me, I couldn’t tell where the boundaries were between fact and fiction.

I skimmed some of the war scenes, and the political discussions; it didn’t seem to matter for the plot, other than that the ships were sometimes forced to move harbour, and the women sometimes had to take houses in safe places. I liked the three women very much; they’re all independent and sometimes outspoken, but Cassandra - who never married - is diplomatic too, and generous. Phyllida is more of a risk-taker, and sometimes speaks when she should be silent, and Jenny is kind, and wise for her years.

I can’t say I liked any of the men very much, although I could see the outcome of the story almost from the beginning. It’s nicely done, though, with plenty of detours from the inevitable romance. There’s quite an exciting journey over land towards the end of the book, which I found difficult to put down once I was around half way through. 

Not my favourite of this author’s books, but a good read which feels authentic. Recommended particularly for those who like more history and less romance in this kind of novel. 

As with this author's other books, it's long out of print, but can sometimes be found second-hand. However, it is available in Kindle format.  

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews