READ THIS: God, Put Out One of My Eyes by Arlene Swift Jones Published by Mover and Shaker Rennie McQuilkin's Antrim House
Our most recent Mover and Shaker is Rennie McQuilkin, who was Peachy Deegan's English teacher at Miss Porter's School:
http://www.whomyouknow.com/2010/09/movers-and-shakers-rennie-mcquilkin.html
Rarely do we begin a book review with the publisher, but in this case it totally makes sense as the publisher is the whole reason why we were interested! It's not who you know, it's WHOM YOU KNOW! We even know the grammatical difference because of him.
At the suggestion of Rennie McQuilkin we read "God, Put Out One of My Eyes" by Arlene Swift Jones. Mr. McQuilkin is a literary genius and recommended Peachy's favorite book to her, "The Great Gatsby," so we were willing to give anything a try he suggested, including a book by someone affiliated with The Ethel Walker School. We figured if he was expanding his horizons that way, we could too. Still we haven't expanded them so far to include Notre Dame, but Regis Philbin, we would if you bet with Peachy on the Holy War.
School allegiances aside, "God, Put Out One of My Eyes" by Arlene Swift is a memoir that lends itself to great adventure, if you are living somewhere far less exciting than Manhattan, or are traveling outside the city and need something to read on the train. If you are the kind of person that thinks the grass is always greener on the other side or are wondering what it would be like being married to someone in the CIA, this puts some real life into it! Your heart will break as her three daughters ask why Daddy can't come to certain places because "he has to work at the Embassy" and the stories of how the Swift family left dark upper Europe for the beauty of Cyprus brings great joy and enlightenment to the reader; Arlene's awakening on page 97 is particularly strong. The reader develops a real appreciation for what our government workers in the CIA and probably also the FBI sacrifice personally for the protection of all Americans and that is something to be honored. Needing to leave places with little notice and the stressful reasons why are not something the average person has any concept of, and this book will leave you with a clear understanding of what life can really be like for these families. The Swift family certainly had some amazing adventures!
In the midst of Fashion Week, we do feel like it is sacrilegious (see there's a word you taught us for the SAT Mr. McQuilkin!) against the church of Fashion to promote the work of someone that does not let her girls play with Barbie, a mandatory staple of childhood for everyone we firmly believe, a huge delight of Peachy's own growing up, as well as a major fashion icon throughout the years, but we love Mr. McQuilkin just as much as Barbie and Whom You Know recommends you read "God, Put Out One of My Eyes" by Arlene Swift Jones! It is a great escape.
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Antrim House is pleased to announce publication of God, Put Out One of My Eyes, Arlene Jones’ Cyprus memoir. In this memoir depicting her days as the wife of an undercover CIA agent on Cyprus just before and during the bloody civil war between Cypriot Greeks and Turks, Arlene Swift Jones has written a page-turner that describes the beauty and barbarity of landscape, customs, and ethnic duality on an island that has long been regarded as the Jewel of the Mediterranean but descends into a paradise lost when hostilities begin in 1963.
One is reminded all too forcefully of present-day conflicts in the Balkans, the Holy Land, and the Near East. And yet in the courage of the author, who fights to keep her family together; in the innocence of her children; and in the primitive but pristine passion of traditional island ceremonies, there is the hope that the human spirit is capable of rising above the horrors so vividly described in God, Put Out One of My Eyes. Willliam A. Buell, who spent many years in the Foreign Service, has written that “Arlene Jones brings the island of Cyprus to life – its sights and sounds and smells and culture – perhaps because she is a poet and writes like a poet. She brings it all alive in a book warmed in part by the literary device of frequent conversations with her three very young daughters. It’s an exciting book, since the background is a growing, apparently irreversible conflict between the island’s Greeks and Turks, from which she had to evacuate her family not once but twice. Her account of rescuing the family pony, riding the emaciated beast through civil war checkpoints from the northern seaside town of Kyrenia to Nicosia, will have you on the edge of your chair.”
Arlene Swift Jones grew up on an Iowa farm where she “read books and rode horses.” The most important constant in her life has been her writing, which she continued to pursue after marrying Frank Jones and entering the hectic life of a CIA wife and mother of three children. In that role, she was often obliged to pick up and move her households and children from one country to another. Finding schools was frequently a major problem, which she solved while living in Poland by founding a school, now called The American School of Warsaw. In all of the countries where she has lived, Arlene has taught at some level, from first grade to the university lecture hall. Her cultural, artistic and literary interests also led to her involvement in the building and operation of a new library in New Hartford, Connecticut, where she and her husband lived with their three daughters for many years.
Arlene Jones is an award-winning poet whose current project is a multi- generational work depicting the lives of Norwegian Quaker immigrants to Iowa, from whom she is descended. A A GREEK PROVERB: One day God approached Janni, a Greek peasant farm- er working in his fields, and said to him: “Janni, you are a very good, honest, God-fearing man. And I want to reward you by granting you one wish. Anything you desire shall be yours… But remember that Charity is a gift to be shared, and I will reward your neighbor, Mehmet, with twice what you ask for.” Janni scratched his head carefully. Finally, he replied: “God, put out one of my eyes!”
Arlene Jones, Cyprus, 1962 6” x 9” paperback, 262 pagesw/ 5 pages of color photographs$24.00, ISBN 978-0-9843418-0-1Author photo by Frank Jones To order by mail: $24 US per book + 6% tax (CT only) + $6 US postage ($8 US for 2+ books), checks payable to Antrim House, 21 Goodrich Rd., Simsbury, CT 06070. Inter- national: $10 US ($16 US for 2+ books). Or order online (www.AntrimHouseBooks.com).
