Inspired by the love story of Eva Palmer and Angelos Sicilianos - but not bound by true events - "The Phoenix" is Chomenidis' most ambitious work.

It covers almost seventy years, from 1860 to 1927. It moves from the pastures of Mount Parnitha to early 20th century New York and from the "black 1897" to the Balkan Wars, the Asia Minor Catastrophe, interwar Athens, Pelion, Delphi... A multitude of historical figures - or fictional reflections of them - parade through its pages. From Eleftherios Venizelos, Kostis Palamas, Kyveli to Kostas Karyotakis, the folk painter Theophilos, Markos Vamvakaris...

But above all, "The Phoenix" leaves no major, timeless issue untouched. The origin and identity of each person, love, parenthood, the slippery turns of life, faith and betrayal, the yearning for a meaning that transcends death.

The phoenix, the emblematic bird that is eternally consumed by its own fire and eternally reborn from its ashes, dominates - even if unseen - from the beginning of the novel. And it is exalted at the end.