The Murderess

From its first appearance in 1903 The Murderess has been regarded as Alexandros Papadiamandis’s finest work. Set on his native island of Skiathos it tells the story of Hadoula, a widow with grown-up children, who has convinced herself that it is better little girls should leave this life when young so that they and their parents should not suffer the trials that inevitably would be inflicted on them by an inequitable society. In the throes of this misguided compassion she first murders her own granddaughter and afterwards finds herself set on a course she is unable to stop despite the promptings of her conscience and her awareness of the consequences. Papadiamandis charts this course and the events in her life that preceded it, and against a background of the island’s verdant and untrodden places and the living presence of the Church he explores the particular quality evil has of disguising itself as good, but without ever passing judgement on the murderess herself. Long considered one of Greece's most important writers, Papadiamandis's reflections on and observations of modern Greek life define the Greek experience in a way unmatched by any of his contemporaries. his new translation of The Murderess has been undertaken and published to mark the centenary of Papadiamandis's death.