John Manuel lived and wrote on the Greek island of Rhodes from 2005 until 2019, when they relocated to South Eastern Crete. Born in the UK, during his working life he was a graphic designer, but was also a perpetually frustrated musician and writer. Having always loved words and reading, one of his goals on arriving  on Rhodes was to begin writing in earnest. John's wife Yvonne (known to her Greek friends as Maria) is half Greek, & thus John's works reflect the insight gained from the contact he's had with his Greek relatives over the years.

 

So far he's published seven memoir books.  The 'Ramblings From Rhodes' series were the first four, then comes 'A Jay in the Jacaranda Tree' a reflection on John's first ten years of living on Rhodes (see page 'Non-Fiction Work'), then the 6th, 'A Motley Collection of Greek Oddities.'  Number 7, and the most recent, is 'Moving Islands.'

 

There are nine novels and one short story, details of which can be viewed by going to the "Fiction" page. 

 

On many of the pages about the books there are photographs and lots of background information, which is being added to continually, plus news about John's projects. Please use the tabs along the top of each page to navigate between pages.

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To purchase any of John's works

The quickest links for purchasing are the cameos of each book's cover on the home page. John's books aren't available in stores because the books are printed digitally to individual order. They're not printed in a large 'print-run' like many conventionally published books. Bookstores CAN order them, but invariably the staff won't bother to do so if you enquire, preferring to talk the customer into buying something off the shelf. Thus we strongly recommend purchasing through Amazon worldwide. Amazon provides an excellent and prompt service and the books can be purchased either as paperbacks or in Kindle format. The links on the home page take you to each book's respective dedicated Amazon page, where you simply choose the format between paperback or Kindle. The paperbacks are available through various other on-line stores too, but the e-book versions are exclusively available in Kindle format, since it's by far the world's market leader in e-books.

 

John is also one of the administrators of a Facebook reading group called 'A Good Greek Read.' He thought up the idea almost by accident, whilst trawling the internet for Greek-themed books. The idea of the group is for members to suggest books, blogs, articles etc., which have a strong Greek connection in some way, be it fact or fiction, and then simply copy and paste the URL (on Amazon for example, but not necessarily) into their post, so that other members can quickly purchase or read it. The group has become a standing reference point for anyone looking for their next fix of Greece-oriented reading material. The membership, which includes many distinguished writers on Greek themes, is expanding continually and has contributors worldwide.

 

Full details of how the group works and what is expected of members can be read by clicking on the PDF icon to the right.