Stand a Little Out of My Sun, Paperback

Stand a Little Out of My Sun captures the dramatic crosscurrents of life within the folds of a Greek American family in Chicago's Industrial Southeast Side during the fifties.

It tells the story of Sophie Poulos, who becomes the sole protector of her little brother, Niko. Sophie wishes to live with her grandparents with their big passions and abundant love, but Niko idolizes their pa. Nine-year-old Niko becomes the newest member of an under-the-table car business run by his pa. He shuts Sophie out, and she can't bear the way his eyes have begun to get the same hard flash as their father's.

The core of this multigenerational and multicultural story tests the bound of a family's loyalty and its astonishing mercy under impossible circumstances.

"The pleasant smell of flinty steel, tires, and grease filled his head. For a solid hour, Niko watched his Pa's quick, purposeful movements. His rapt attention to detail and sure, steady hands under the hood of the car were captivating. . . Niko looked up smiling at the crisscross rafters of the garage, and it seemed to him the whole canopy of heaven."

"Sophie looked into her Yiayia's soulful eyes, which regarded the world fearlessly, and thought she was the most extraordinary woman she had ever known. Sophie felt great ambition to be like her."