The Road to Ithaca

(Paperback)

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Description

In May 1941, Wehrmacht officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the German army, and must investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. All the clues lead to a platoon of trigger-happy German paratroopers but the truth may be more complex. Bora takes to the mountains of Crete to solve the case, navigating his way between local bandits and foreign resistance fighters. Carrying Joyce's Ulysses in his pocket, Bora starts a perilous odyssey of his own, complicated by the presence of his female travel companion, a Texas-born archaeologist with a proverbial curl on her forehead.

Reviews

Praise for the series: TIN SKY is the best crime novel of the month. Terror and suspicion on the Eastern Front. We hail a bold series set in the Second World War. This fine novel is packed with tense moments and moral ambiguity. Times In TIN SKY Pastor effectively melds a well-constructed whodunit with a grim portrayal of the Eastern front. PW Starred Review A DARK SONG OF BLOOD is historical crime fiction at its best, vividly re-creating the atmosphere of a city occupied by an increasingly desperate army. Sunday Times The historical milieu of these books is grim, but Pastor s character examinations are precise and engrossing. Kirkus The tone of LIAR MOON has a flu-like grimness, appropriate the 1943 setting. Pastor is excellent at providing details (silk stockings, movie magazines, cigarettes) that light up the setting. Booklist Pastor succeeds at painting a memorable picture of Fascist Italy through the lens of ordinary police procedure carried out under extraordinary circumstances. Publishers Weekly An impressive and intelligent novel. The Times LUMEN s plot is well crafted, her prose sharp a disturbing mix of detection and reflection. Publisher s Weekly And don t miss LUMEN by Ben Pastor. An interesting, original and melancholy tale. Literary Review "

Author Bio

Ben Pastor: Ben Pastor, born in Italy, lived for thirty years in the United States, working as a university professor in Vermont, and is now back in her home country. She is the author of other novels including The Water Thief and The Fire Waker (set in Roman times and published to high acclaim in the US by St. Martin s Press), and is considered one of the most talented writers in the field of historical fiction. In 2008 she won the prestigious Premio Zaragoza for best historical fiction. She writes in English. "