An Englishman discovers that he has come into a small inheritance in Crete and sets out to claim it. When he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek with a zest for life. As their relationship develops, the Englishman is persuaded to change his outlook on life

This autobiographical novel is one of the last things written by Kazantzakis before he died in 1957. It paints a vivid picture of his childhood in Crete, and then steadily grows into a spiritual quest that takes him to Italy, Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Russia.