The Amorgos Conspiracy

The Amorgos Conspiracy is the true story of the escape of a political prisoner from the colonels' dictatorship of the 1960's. The moderate left-wing politician George Mylonas is being held in exile on a remote Aegean island. A plot to rescue him is mounted by his son-in-law, Elias Kulukundis, the author-a young Greek-American writer-who leads the rescue party to the island of Amorgos. The drama unfolds against an idyllic setting of a cruise in Greece, and the other rescuers-young Italian volunteers about the same age as Kulukundis-do not know either the identity of the prisoner or the "member of the resistance," who is leading them. Kulukundis, the narrator, is traveling under a Danish passport belonging to one Arne Diener, a young Danish citizen who like many Scandinavians in that era has donated his passport to the resistance against the colonels. What makes The Amorgos Conspiracy different is the fact that it is not a novel. It is a true story. It is Elias Kulukundis' gripping tale, of organizing the escape of his father-in law, George Mylonas. This is a book about coming of age, "a true story that marked the end of my youthful illusions" as Elias says.

The Amorgos Conspiracy is the true story of the escape of a political prisoner from the colonels’ dictatorship of the 1960’s. The moderate left wing politician George Mylonas is being held in exile on a remote Aegean island. A plot to rescue him is mounted by his son-in-law, Elias Kulukundis, the author—a young Greek-American writer—who leads the rescue party to the island of Amorgos. The drama unfolds against an idyllic setting of a cruise in Greece, and the other rescuers—young Italian volunteers about the same age as Kulukundis—do not know either the identity of the prisoner or the “member of the resistance,” who is leading them. Kulukundis, the narrator, is traveling under a Danish passport belonging to one Arne Diener, a young Danish citizen who like many Scandinavians in that era has donated his passport to the resistance against the colonels. What makes The Amorgos Conspiracy different is the fact that is not a novel. It is a true story. It is Elias Kulukundis’ gripping tale, of organizing the escape of his father-in law, George Mylonas. This is a book about coming of age, “a true story that marked the end of my youthful illusions” as Elias says. Stelios Kouloglou, a journalist of the Greek Channel ERT, has prepared a one-hour television documentary based on the book for his program “Reportage without Borders”. Read more about the Documentary based on The Amorgos Conspiracy.

Born in London of Greek parents, Elias Kulukundis is a writer and a ship-owner. He graduated from Phillips Exeter and Harvard, where he studied literature. Like his writing, Elias is a hybrid. He lived in three different countries in the first three years of his life---London, Syros (Greece), and then New York. The journey is central to his thinking and he always has a valid passport. Nevertheless, he feels that he grew up in a Greek world. “Greece was downstairs in our house in Rye, New York, while upstairs in America, I answered questions in my Greek work-book before going to bed,” he wrote in The Feasts of Memory. The Feasts of Memory was an attempt to make sense of his seemingly disconnected background. The voyager is a Greek of the diaspora, who is seeking to discover his identity. Elias' use of the term diaspora led to the development of the concept of Greek Literature of the Diaspora, a subject unknown until the term was invented to apply to The Feasts of Memory. Courses in the subject are now widely taught on college campuses, of which The Feasts of Memory is often the concluding lecture. Elias’s second book The Amorgos Conspiracy, was published in Greek in November 2012 and in English in June 2013. It is a true account of the rescue of a prisoner from the Greek colonel’s dictatorship of the 1960’s and 70’s. The book was praised by Dan Brown as “My favorite kind of read—a stylish, globetrotting adventure, that teaches as it entertains.” Ever journeying, Elias has somewhat settled down and now divides his time between New York City and Syros, Greece.