Sophia Kouidou-Giles was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was university educated in the US. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in social work. In her more than thirty-year child welfare career, she served as a practitioner, educator, researcher, and administrator and published articles in Greek and English professional journals. Her writing has appeared in Voices, Persimmon Tree, Assay, The Raven's Perch, The Time Collection, and The Blue Nib. Her poetry chapbook is Transitions and Passages. Her work has appeared in anthologies including The Time Collection, Visual Verse, and Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis. Her memoir, Επιστροφή Στη Θεσσαλονίκη/Return to Thessaloniki, was published in Greek by Tyrfi Press. The English version, Sophia’s Return: Uncovering My Mother’s Past, was published by She Writes Press in 2021. Sophia lives in Seattle, Washington, near her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.
“Both young and old know the suffering of love’s end . . . and the disaster of wrong attraction. But if you happen to be the sorceress Circe—a shape-shifter and spell-caster—the outcomes are unrestrained by human proportion. An unforgettable story of infatuation, tragic error, and redemption for readers of all ages.” —Jean Gilbertson, author of Dancing on the Whisper of God “From the beginning pages, Sophia Kouidou-Giles pulls the reader into a magical world where Greek goddesses and gods come to life. With luminescent prose, she weaves a psychologically astute study of Circe—each chapter compels the reader on to the next. I found the novel absorbing and enlightening.” —Kathryn Crawley, author of Walking on Fire: A Novel “In this playful yet deeply impactful romp of a novel, reimagined age-old tensions refresh familiar tropes from love triangles to the battle of the sexes. Quick-paced and wildly inventive, An Unexpected Ally entertains just as much as it informs, offering enduring insights into the complexities—and compromises—that women so often find themselves compelled to make in a male-dominated world, whether in the ancient world or today. Circe and her companions are freshly vibrant and surprisingly familiar; and their story—part reimagined myth, part contemporary critique—will startle, surprise, and certainly leave you smiling.” —Susan V. Meyers, author of Failing the Trapeze