Audiobook Peel Me a Lotus written by Charmian Clift. In 1954 the Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post- war London for Greece. Moving first to the tiny island of Kalymnos they then settled on Hydra and stayed for almost a decade. They bought a picturesque, dilapidated house and Charmian grappled with the chaos of domestic life, the arrival of a third child and the clash of cultures.