Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

This novel is an engrossing journey through the lives of some of the twentieth century's most influential writers. Set in 1960s Greece and centred on the writers' colony of Hydra, the novel follows Erica, a young novice novelist, as she navigates the tangled web of relationships between artists, poets, and scroungers.

The novel is a thoughtful exploration of art, relationships, and sexuality as it delves into the characters' complex interactions. The plot itself is both heartbreaking and uplifting, as the characters struggle to find meaning and purpose in their lives. The prose is vivid and evocative, and Samson's skillful use of language demonstrates her writing ability.

Erica's character is particularly well written, and her journey is one that readers can identify with. She is a sympathetic character who is both naive and wise, and it is through her that we experience the joys and sorrows of the other characters.

The novel contains beautiful descriptions of the Greek island of Hydra, which serve to enhance the novel's atmosphere. The reader can imagine the beauty of the island and the unique culture that surrounded it thanks to Samson's meticulous detail.

'A Theatre for Dreamers' is an engrossing story that will stay with readers long after they've finished it.

I wanted to love this, I really did but it left me utterly cold. No character building or plot to speak of. I had such high hopes after reading some excellent reviews but feel like we read completely different books.

Someone once said that 'The closer you get to paradise the dirtier it gets". To many people, the Greek island of Hydra was as close as you get to a creative paradise, but underneath the tensions, both sexual and political, and relationships toil. Set in the early sixties when a young innocent Erica arrives with her brother and friend and meets the other creatives living their.

I am fascinated by places where artists gain inspiration such as the Lake District, Newlyn and Venice, but particularly where colonies of artists have grown and lived together. Charleston would be a place of pilgrimage for me, the home created by Vanessa Bell on the south coast. This was where the Bloomsbury group of artists would stay and their decoration of the house is preserved beautifully ( with their rather entangled love affairs preserved beautifully in the BBC series Life in Squares). So, when offered the chance to read this novel about the artists and writers drawn to the Greek island of Hydra, I was looking forward to diving in. It was read over three gloriously sunny days in my garden, reclined in my steamer chair with a jug of PImms. It was the perfect way to experience the world Polly Samson conjures; an amphitheatre of houses all focused towards the sea, stray cats waiting for the fishing boats, swimming at midnight within a silvery trail of moonlight and a young girl in love for the first time, searching out memories of her mother.
The island of Hydra became a magnet for writers and artists in the 1950s when writers like Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller took up residence. Samson’s novel is set a generation later in the 1960s when the colony seemed to revolve around Australian writers Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston. Our heroine Erica is 17, mourning the loss of her mother and looking after an increasingly belligerent father in their London home. A parcel arrives addressed to her late mother, and this is the catalyst for a golden summer she will remember all her life. In the parcel is a letter from Charmian Clift and a copy of her latest novel and Erica starts to read about a different world which inspires her. Erica has always wanted to write, and craving adventure as well as a possible link to her mother, she wants to visit the island where Clift lives. Her boyfriend Jimmy is an artist and both she and her brother have a legacy from their mother they can use, as well as a car they didn’t know their mother owned. Erica is armed with blank notebooks and a lot of questions about her mother, so with Charmian’s promise to secure them a cottage, they all set out to Hydra.

Erica is such an appealing character because everything about her feels new, there is so much to experience and we see it all through her naive eyes. At first there is more freedom than she’s ever known, with no one to answer to or look after. She and Jimmy can make love into the afternoon, they don’t need to work so have ample time to create and can finish the day drinking at one of the tavernas and then skinny dip in the still warm sea after dark. She does find herself drawn to Charmian’s house, a bohemian jumble of rooms overrun with children and visitors, and the sound of a grumpy George bashing away on his typewriter. Charmian is the mother of the group: a cook, organiser, listening ear, social secretary and occasional writer. Erica falls in love with the eccentric group that centre around her, including Axel a Norwegian writer who can’t seem to stay faithful to his beautiful wife Marianne, and new arrival Leonard who is a handsome poet from Canada. Erica puts them all on a pedestal, because she sees them as successful, doing a job she has always aspired to and living in this idyllic place. She is similarly in love with Jimmy. As she wakes and sees him lying next to her naked she imagines capturing him just as he is now, beautiful and preserved only for her.

This is a coming of age novel and I enjoyed how the events of the summer open Erica’s eyes, about relationships, the seemingly idyllic community on Hydra, and the realities of being a writer who is also a woman. In their own cottage, Erica finds that her nurturing personality is easily exploited by others busy pursuing their art. While others merely sleep in, then write or paint, Erica is busy fetching water, clearing dishes and collecting supplies. She has also attached herself to Charmian’s home where the door is always open and there are kids to herd. Charmian points out the difference between men and women who write; men get up and retire to their study to create, unencumbered by housework, children or cooking. Just as Virginia Woolf writes decades before, how different would it be if women had a room of their own? A physical room where the door can be shut, but also a metaphorical room - space away from the mental load of running a household. Instead of working on her own book, Charmian is perched in George’s study offering advice, bolstering confidence and sometimes, even providing the words. Whilst downstairs Marianne and Erica herd feral children and keep an eye on the cooking. Marianne is another example, pregnant by husband Axel who is having an affair with a young girl called Patricia. After his departure, she becomes close to the poet Leonard, but it isn’t long before she’s cooking for him, laying out his desk and popping a fresh gardenia in a vase for him. Charmian warns Erica to never let a man clip her wings, observing that she’s seen her looking after Jimmy at the expense of her own writing time.

The sense of place Samson creates is incredible and laid out in my garden, I could imagine lowering my book and seeing the harbour. The place is idyllic, romantic and seductive:

‘The best time for a night swim at the rocks is when the moon is full. I’ll never forget my first phosphorescence: Jimmy coming up the ladder streaming with stars, one caught on an eyelash still blinking away as he reached and pulled me in, our limbs moon-silvered, our fingers trailing through constellations’.

Who could resist a first love with this backdrop? Samson’s descriptions of the characters clothes, their beautiful homes and the incredible Greek cuisine that Charmian is teaching Erica to cook, create a sensual pleasure in the reader; we’re soaking up this world she has created. However, there are hints that once you stay beyond a couple of weeks, you start to see that the island is not the perfect heaven that Erica has built in her mind. They find a live kitten, flea bitten and crusty eyed, thrown away in a bin bag like rubbish. Once he is treated and nurtured by Erica and Jimmy, Cato becomes a wonderfully sleek black cat. The regular residents acknowledge the problem with strays, in fact a writer called Jean-Claude had drugged a colony of them, then thrown them into the sea in a sack. This type of shock in amongst the beauty of the place, is the reader experiencing Erica’s awakening alongside her; nowhere is perfect for longer than it takes to capture a postcard image.

The same lesson lies in wait about the members of this colony. No relationship is perfect, and Erica is in danger of romanticising George and Charmian almost like surrogate parents. To learn that Charmian may have cheated on her husband is bad enough, but George humiliating his wife by writing it as a sex scene in his latest book, causes a lot of tension. Alex leaves the island with Patricia, despite Marianne giving birth to their son. Erica watches Leonard slowly get closer to Marianne and the baby. Will he truly be able to capture her heart or will she always run back to Axel? When Erica looks back in her later years she imagines them both playing on the beach with the baby between them. Could there’s have been the best example of love, looking back? I’d no idea till later in the book that this Leonard is Leonard Cohen and the reader is left to imagine Marianne inspiring his song of the same name. Erica has to learn that most things are temporary. Life isn’t a fairy story which ends happily when the handsome prince chooses his wife. That is simply one moment in a, hopefully, very long life. She sees that no relationship, even her own, is truly safe or within her control. Cracks appear when one night at a local nightspot the group lounge around on large cushions gossiping. The gossips turns to Marianne and Erica is surprised how bitchy it gets, it disillusions and disappoints her.

The author cleverly weaves into the story, these little hints that show life on Hydra, and within this artistic community, is not what it seems on the surface. There are artistic jealousies, even between man and wife, but especially between the men. There’s a degree of suspicion underneath the cheerful socialising. Erica’s relationship with Charmian has ups and downs. Erica sees her as queen of their community., almost like a mother to them all. Perhaps she pushes in and questions her too much at first and Charmian will not divulge any secrets about her mother’s life. Towards the end of the novel the pair meet again in London by chance and Charmian is more forthcoming about Erica’s mother and accompanies her to a protest. When Erica eventually revisits Hydra years later, not many of the old gang are left. Will those that remain full in the blanks for her, or will so much remain obscured by time and her naivety at the time of the events? How will going back bring closure for her? Although I was more interested to see whether Erica had taken the lessons she learned there and applied them to her life. Hydra remains alluringly beautiful and I felt it would have a strange, magnetic power over Erica for the rest of her life. This final visit is about settling memories back into place, with tears and laughter that is so bittersweet,

Now so long, Marianne

It's time that we began to laugh

And cry and cry and laugh about it all again

A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS was idyllic. I felt like I was on a Greek Island: somewhere hot, hazy and dreamy. ☀️ Oooh and the food sounded so delicious! 😋 Polly did a brilliant job of making me feel like I was in Hydra through the beautiful descriptions of the place; quite sensory experience. I’m a sucker for bohemian vibes too so mixing with a group of poets (I spy a young Leonard Cohen 😉) painters and musicians in the 60s was right up my street!! 😂 The story follows Erica, a teenager who arrives on the island and is welcomed by the group, yet never quite feels a part of it. I do enjoy a coming of age story. I did feel it was a tad long, but overall, I enjoyed listening to A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS and it provided much needed escapism. 😎 I’m just longing to travel now! ✈️

I so wanted to adore this book...I love the mixture of fact and fiction and I love Greece...but unfortunately I just didn't love it.

I love flowery prose but this went a bit far ...the contradiction between how Erica thinks and how she acts were so far apart..it was hard to get a grip on her character. As for Bobby...I hated him from the moment he acted like a 2 year old on the car journey from England and that never recovered.

Its very hard to imagine real people in these situations...and although I wanted to be enthralled by Leonard Cohen and Co....I just wasn't...they still seemed like dreamy obscure figures....

I understand the book overall wanted a dreamy quality and I applaud the author, who is clearly very talented, for this but it was so dreamy that I couldn't engage with it at all and struggled with it.

I do plan to read it again at a later date...maybe on the beach or somewhere dreamy and beautiful and I will see if I enjoy it more then...

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the audiobook version of "A Theatre For Dreamers" which brought the added bonus of author Polly Samson's mellifluous tones and husband and Pink Floyd veteran David Gilmour's exquisite guitar playing. Oh, it is glorious! "A Theatre For Dreamers" is a beautiful, transporting summery read. Full disclosure - I had no prior knowledge of Leonard Cohen etc. but I don't feel that diminished the experience.

A languorous, atmospheric read. Maybe not quite as clever as it thinks it is, but engaging nevertheless. Erica has just the right amount of detachment to give the story some depth, and the setting is glorious.

I loved the sense of place and time in this novel - it’s genuinely transporting in that sense. I found the web of relationships between the characters fascinating especially as I knew very little of the story of Leonard Cohen, Marianne and her husband. The writing was a little flowery and heavy on description at times but I could forgive that as the overall result was so successful.

There is no way my review will give this beautiful novel justice, it quite literally, and I can think of no other words, swept me away. It wasn’t just the beautiful Greek Island of Hydra that captivated but also the characters, the naive, young Erica, and the bohemian collection of writers and artists that flocked to the island.

Erica, was our eyes and ears, an interloper, an objective outsider who observed, and navigated her way through the hierarchy and intrigues of the eclectic mix of individuals. But it wasn’t just about what she saw or did, it was also about her own journey through the grief of losing her mother, the tribulations of understanding herself as a person but also as a woman in a changing world. Would she be just like her own mother, and countless women in the world who ‘served’ the men in their life, be the homemaker or would she forge her own, independent path?

Famous writer Charmain Clift was the matriarch of the island, her house, her family through which life revolved. And what a house and family it was, as Samson painted a marriage that was forever marred by volatility. Clift and her husband, fellow author George Johnston, were two creative giants who clashed against each other and those around them, yet you felt they couldn’t exist without each other or the island without them.

Charmaine, became Erica’s substitute mother, as she searched for clues of her mother’s hidden life, little clues that Sansom littered throughout, as she painted a picture of a woman with a life removed from that of her family, well hidden from all.

Along with Erica you desperately wanted to discover her mother’s secrets but Sansom kept us waiting and instead opened up the myriad intrigues of the island. We watched along with Erica as famous Norwegian written Axel Jensen, conducted his love affairs, the despair of his long suffering wife Marianne, and the arrival of poet Leonard Cohen, destined to be famous, yet pulled into the swirling vortex of Hydra’s scandalous affairs.

When the secret finally revealed itself, you weren’t shocked, but somehow knew and I think Erica already knew but just needed to hear it from the one source she trusted. it was her the effect on her subsequent actions, that were interesting, that would you hope change the course of an unhappy life she found herself in.

And what of Hydra, the island that somehow contained them all before spewing them out when they had outstayed their welcome. Again we followed Erica as she absorbed its beauty, the beaches, the sea, the dry and arid landscape, and the simmering heat of the summer. Samson’s imagery was wonderful, you could imagine yourself there, could feel the heat, the coolness of the sea and taste the local food they ate.

It was a heady mix of superb characterisation, magical scene setting and fantastic storytelling. What I loved above everything else was that the characters were real, the story based on fact, and Samson’s ability to bring them, and the island of Hydra so vividly to life.

I really didn’t want to leave, the island or Erica, sad to leave them as I turned the final page.

Thank you so much Polly Sansom for creating such a wonderful and beautiful novel.

'I watch my step. a stumble can so easily become a fall.'
An authentic, sharply drawn portrait of a young woman's summer of self-reckoning, told in retrospect.
The famous and iconic characters dance and blend their through 1960 on the island, a melting pot of political and sexual experimentation, coloured in as rich
a pallet as the Hydra skies.

This book was great. I loved all the characters, the plot line kept me engaged the whole way through and I loved all the characters. Beautifully written and as a avid reader I felt captured by this book, it felt very original.

BOOK REVIEW: A theatre for dreamers by Polly Samson (2020)

A novel can work or not, for many reasons. The timing. The setting. The characters. The writing. The plot. There are also factors we can’t place: I often have no idea why I like or hate a book.

I read ‘A theatre for dreamers’ this June. The timing was bittersweet. I am Greek, though I left for London years ago. Of course I sometimes question that decision; it’s the fate of those with two homes. I had planned to travel to Greece this August, then Covid 19 came & all routes to Greece closed: it remains achingly unclear when I can go.

These pages are full of Greece: the port, the summer visitors, the whitewashed houses, the milky white ouzo, the pure white foam of the waves, the lemon trees, the terraces, the lanterns, the honey syrup cakes, the stuffed peppers, the night swimming. The Hydra here feels as familiar to me as my blood & bones; I felt acutely nostalgic reading this.

Samson tells the story of 1960 picturesque, unspoiled Hydra, the glorified time when Leonard Cohen, Marianne Ihlen & an expat community of writers lived & wrote there. It’s written in first person: Erica, an 18 year old drifter, escapes from London after her mother dies, hoping to meet her mother’s friend Charmian Clift. Australian Charmian Clift & her husband George Johnston, both writers, form the anchor of this story, Erica observing them. Erica is the only fictional character in a fictionalised group of famous figures; Samson is wise to give this young outsider the most well-rounded character, while larger-than-life figures such as Cohen remain in the background. I was dreading reading about Cohen in fiction: how can that work? Samson managed to get it (almost) right by keeping him vague enough not to notice.

The book isn’t plot-driven and is slow, though always atmospheric. The idealised, sun filled group of intellectuals turns sour with betrayal, violence, parental neglect & immaturity. I was left with a bad aftertaste: there’s a jarring juxtaposition between the island I feel such a pull towards, trapped in the London of Covid, versus the disappointment of this group of characters.

Thanks to #negalley for my copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

A gorgeous read that flows like the tide, sparkles like the sea and lingers in the mind like a summer day.
I am desperate to go to Greece and the islands after reading this novel.
It brings to life all the contemporary moments of the 60s, from art and music to women's liberation.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"It's a magic trick from barren rock, a theatre for dreamers. The stage is lit by sun and sea... I might leap as the port and its toy town come at us out of the blue. I look from the mountains to the ziggurats of houses and back to the colourful boats in the harbour and for the first time since we left London I'm happy."

In 1960, Erica's mother dies and leaves her a small fortune. Fuelled by grief and escaping her abusive father, she decides to run away to the Greek island of Hydra with her brother and her boyfriend. On the island live the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, friends of her mother, who are the leaders of a bohemian community of musicians, painters and poets that have settled on Hydra. Charmian takes Erica under her wing, becoming a second mother to her, teaching her how to be an adult and telling stories of her late mother.

A Theatre for Dreamers is a portrait of a society on the brink of revolution and the beginning of second wave feminism. Many of the women on the island are 'muses' for their creative husbands, and the novel explores the role of women in facilitating men's artistic work, usually uncredited, in sacrifice of their own creativity and whilst running a household. There are many famous people in this book, including a young Leonard Cohen, and I was worried this would detract from the book but it doesn't - they are mostly background characters to Erica's coming of age story.

This is one of those books where not a lot happens, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - I'm a sucker for storytelling about domestic life and people's friendships and relationships. I loved how this was written, I felt like I was on Hydra myself 🌞🌊⛱️ considering I won't be able to travel for a while, this felt like the closest I can get to a holiday for now. A great piece of escapist literature.

A Theatre for Dreamers is summer in a book, that took me to the heat and beauty of the Greek Island of Hydra. Set in 1960, Erica, her boyfriend Jimmy and brother Bobby set off for the Island of Hydra, for literaty and artistic inspiration and for Erica to find Charmain Clift. Charmain was friends with Erica’s mother, who recently died, and she wants to find out more about her. Hydra is awash with literary and artistic talent, as well as Charmain, there is her husband George Johnston, Axel Jensen and a young Leonard Cohen. Over the course of the summer relationships are tested, a love triangle emerges and on the side lines Erica watches with intrigue as her ideals are shattered.

A Theatre for Dreamers is beautiful in repsect of Polly Samson’s writing, setting and plot. Erica is only seventeen when she looses her mother and goes to Hydra in search of author Charmain Clift. She has left a sheltered life, caring for her mother until her death and being ruled by a strict and cold father. Her mother left her money so she could follow her dreams, and make something of her life, and Hydra offers that to her. Hydra is everything her life in London is not; colourful, bright, and even though there is no running water or electricity she embraces her new found freedom. At seventeen Erica is young, naive and idealistic, seeing only the best in everyone and everything, but over the course of the summer the rose tinted glasses cloud over, and her ideals are shattered.

It is Charman who takes on the mother role with Erica, teaching her how to cook, and giving her advice, especially about not putting her life on hold for a man. This is a bit ironic as Charmain has stopped writing so she can help her tempremantal husband George write his first novel. Charmain is like the queen of the islands artisitc community. She holds court every morning at the cafe where the writers gather, including Leonard Cohen, and at the bars and parties in the evening. It as a cosmopolitan community, that reminded me of the literary salons in Paris in the seventeenth century, with the writers giving readings, discussing literary greats and philosophising about their writing.

Polly Samson writes in vivid technicolour, capturing the light, the colours, sights, sounds and smells of the Island, its rituals and beauty. The same intensity and detail are in her writing of the characters as well; the angry and passionate Axel Jensen, his beautiful and demur wife Marianne, the tortured George Johnston, and the relaxed and laid back Leonard Cohen. All the nuances and emotions of these characters made me feel like I knew and understood them. Feminism and the female as a Muse were a thread that run throughout the story. Charmain feels she has had to put her writng on hold to be a wife, mother and help her husband write his book. Marianne is husband Axel’s muse, and devotes her life to making it easy for hime to write, cooking for him, taking food to him, caring for him whilst he is continually having affairs. Charmain wants more than this for Erica, advising her of living her own life and not running around after her boyfriend which is what she is doing in her relationship with Jimmy; up at the crack of dawn to get food and water, making it easy for him to write. The 1960’s was the decade that first saw women be given more opportunities, and being liberated for the social and cultural constraints of previous decades, so it was fascinating to read of a world on the cusp of this revolution.

A Theatre for Dreamers is an enchanting and evocative read, that took me to the beautiful Island of Hydra. It is an ode to a more simplistic life, a life of art and literature, a place of debate and philosphical discussion, a cosmopolitan community. Polly Samson captures the continually changing atmosphere of the Island, the passion of those who live there and the sense of community. This is a glorious read, sensual in the writing and immersive in the storyline, the perfect summer read.

Halcyon skies, bright blue seas, beautiful beaches, tumbling trees…in Polly Samson’s A Theatre for Dreamers Hydra is painted as a stunning place where anything can happen. Including dreams. Focusing on an artistic community on a Greek island in the 60s, this novel explores art and sexuality through relationships that form and flex throughout it. Prominent among the artists and poets are a Norwegian couple – Axel Jensen and Marianne Ihlen – and a young, charismatic Canadian by the name of Leonard Cohen, who hooks up with young muse Marianne. Sexual jealousy builds. Violence and anger abound. It’s tense at times.
Atmospheric prose and vivid descriptions captivate throughout, even though at times the characters and plot gets a bit saggy. But the language and writing hooks you in and makes you imagine the blue skies and bluer seas that we all want to be near. It is a classic coming-of-age story, beautifully executed.
It’s perfect summer reading, transporting us far away whilst we’re all trying to remember what holidays look like.

This was fine. Some of the descriptions of the island were lovely but overall I just felt distanced from all of the action. Nothing much seemed to happen. The opening section did away with a lot of the tension with some storylines that were to come later.

I found myself almost fighting the novel the whole way. I think I would have liked this more had our main character been a bit more self-aware in looking back on her past. A slightly different space for the narrative point of view. She seemed a bit too naive.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Books can transport you in time and space. A Theatre of Dreamers took me to a Greek island in the early 60s. I spent time mixing with the artistic community including Leonard Cohen who had made their home there. Most of all I learnt that it is better to be your own woman and weave your own dreams rather than being the put upon muse of a great man. Real characters are mixed in with fictional ones and the whole books makes you long to sail in the blue blue seas of Greece. Perfect for lockdown and perfect for summer.