Meet the members of Alec’s immediate family — his wife, his son, and his father.
Ravenna Rosalind Serafeim
“From the east to western Ind, no jewel is like my Ravenna Rosalind.” He rolled the Rs of her deliciously alliterative name, putting his unique imprint on As You Like It, and tugged her close, breathing in her intoxicating scent and admiring the fragrant red rose tucked in her hair.
Alec’s wife, Venna, was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 1 June 1927. Her father is a professor of literature at the University of Melbourne, and she met Alec while they were both students there. While Venna’s parents initially liked Alec, they ordered their daughter to not marry him after his mental breakdown during his second year of medical school. Venna, however, chose Alec.
Venna is Alec’s rock, although around even her, he feels insecure, and as if he does not deserve her and wonders how she could be possibly be happy with him.
An accomplished pianist who speaks Italian and French fluently, Venna also loves fish, adoring the massive saltwater aquarium Alec had built into their house in a town on the ocean north of Perth.
Venna is a former schoolteacher; she is grounded, supportive, and loving, and Alec freely admits he considers her much smarter than he is.
Ambrose Peter Serafeim
Venna gestured to where their five-year-old son, Ambrose, named for the famous French surgeon Ambroise Paré, sat cross-legged less than six feet away, playing with his favorite toy, a tattered stuffed octopus Alec had bought on his last day of a six-month tour of American hospitals three years earlier.
Known as “Brose” to his dad, and “Amby” to his mom, Ambrose is Alec and Venna’s only child. His middle name comes from Alec’s surgical partner and best friend, Peter O’Neill. Brose bears a strong resemblance to his father (and, by extension, to his paternal grandfather as well).
Brose’s birthday is 31 March 1950, making him five years old during most of the novel. He is an inquisitive, bright, and imaginative boy. He is, however, much more cautious than his father. Brose’s most prized possession is a stuffed red octopus named Octavius that Alec bought for his son on his trip to America in 1953. Octavius leads to one of the most heartwarming scenes in the story.
Brose enjoys sailing with Alec, and he has already become a good runner like his father.
Dimitrios Theologos Serafeim
Perhaps all father and son relationships are complicated, but Dimitrios “The Captain” Serafeim—he had earned his sobriquet serving as a surgeon in the Royal Australian Navy—had not raised Alec, and the two rarely saw eye to eye, lending their relationship a fraught and multifarious character. For his part, Alec loved his father, but he found his old man baffling and more than a bit eccentric.
Known as “the Silver Fox of Ios” or as “The Captain” for his time in the RAN during World War II (when he was the head of a RAN hospital in Sydney), Dimtrios Serafeim was born on 14 February 1900 on the island of Ios, Greece. This makes him 56 years old throughout most of the novel. He had a violent father who likely suffered from bipolar disorder and who served as a ship’s surgeon. Dimitrios’s father died by suicide when Dimitrios was fourteen, at which time he decided to leave home. Teaching himself English, he obtained admission to St. Andrews Medical School in Scotland. After graduating, he moved to Perth, where he became a general surgeon. There, he met his wife, Rachel, and had his only surviving child, Alexandros.
Dimitrios is a widower; his wife died in childbirth when Alec was five. A definite ladies man, he frequently courts women younger than Alec, much to his son’s chagrin.
Alec blames his father for not saving his mother’s life and seems to resent having been sent to live with relatives; Alec seems to see his uncle, Thom Xanos, as more of a father than Dimitrios. Alec and Dimitrios have a fraught relationship and tension is always in the air when the two are together.
Dimitrios is active in the Greek Orthodox Church and speaks with a thick but understandable accent; his English tends to be more formalized, and he rarely uses Australian slang.