Tina's web

Kedros, 2002
Metaichmio, 2011

2003 Greek IBBY Best YA Prize
2003 “Diavazo” Magazine Best YA Literature Prize
2005 Prix des Embouquineurs (FRANCE)
Shortlisted for the 2009 Marsh Award (UK)

Tina is nearly thirteen when her world turns upside down. Her parents are splitting up and she has to leave her school, her best friend and her comfortable home in Germany for a life in Greece with an eccentric woman. Tina and her grandmother are sworn enemies from the start; there is a total lack of understanding on both sides.
‘How could you not have noticed something was wrong?’ her grandmother asks repeatedly about the divorce. But she hadn’t. Tina is trapped in a web of anger and confusion, hating everything and everyone. Then she meets someone who understands her despair. He offers her a small blue pill and thus begins a whirlwind of lying, stealing and an increasing lack of control over her life. Tina’s father is inevitably called back to Greece: ‘How could you not have noticed something was wrong?’ he asks his mother…
A fast-moving story of teenage troubles, but also a story of two generations who are failing to see how alike they are. As always, Alki Zei has a unique ability to observe and describe everything around her with high emotional intelligence and mastery of language.

 

It has been translated into 6 languages.

Foreign editions

Kostandina, Tirana: Dituria, 2017 (Albanian)
La Konstantina i les teranyines, Barcelona: Editorial Cruilla, 2009 (Catalan)
Tina’s web, London: Aurora Metro Press, 2007 (English)
Le grand écart, Genève: La Joie de Lire, 2003 (French)
Constandina y las telarañas, Salamanca: Loguez ediciones, 2005 (Spanish)

Konstantina i njeni paukovi, Smederevo: Heliks, 2020 (Serbian)

Reviews