Mother Land is an autobiographical novel, a minutely remembered description of childhood on an Aegean island, marked by the furious opposition between Greek and Turk, which is mirrored by the rows between the bewildered nine-year-old Dmetri's parents. Before the family emigrates to Australia, leaving behind their beautiful, if impoverished, homeland, Kakmi reveals with chilling clarity how violence begets violence, in even the most unexpected of people. But it is only when he returns as an adult that he uncovers family secrets which allow the final piece of the jigsaw to fall into place.