The Evolution of Shadows

(Paperback)

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In July of 1995, the news photographer Gray Banick disappeared into the Bosnian war zone and doing so took away pieces of the hearts of three people who loved him: Emil Todorovic, his interpreter and friend; Jack MacKenzie, his mentor who taught Gray to hold his camera steady between himself and the worst that war presents; and Lian Zhao, who didnt have the strength to love him as he wanted her to. Now, almost five years later, they have gathered in Sarajevo to find out what happened to Gray, the man who had taught them all what love is.

Each driven character in this novel believes fully that there is a love strong enough to sustain them, even in the extreme circumstances of war. But each time they have uncovered a glimpse of such a thing, they have failed tragically love itself.

Or, to see it another way, this is a novel about how love fails us every timeor almost every time.

Reviews

"Malott employs a matter-of-factness that emphasizes the horrific unlikelihood of his war stories. All the while, he pulls the reader from one story to the next, from one period and place to another--from present-day Bosnia back to Kansas City, where Gray lived; from the search for Gray back to his days in the war."--Bookforum.com "Malott strips down the language and amps up the tension as he creates an indelible portrait of the shell shocked and dispossessed."--BOOKLIST "Compelling."--The Wichita Eagle "A sparely written and stark depiction of three people and a nation confronting the horrors of war...The causes and consequences of a centuries-old conflict (for historical background, Ivo Andric's novel Bridge on the Drina, is a classic work) are revealed through deft storytelling and main characters that transcend their ethnicities to become real people in all their complexity."--ALBANY TIMES UNION.COM "A timely meditation on exile and illness, love and guilt, beautifully written...I look eagerly forward to whatever he writes next."--Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest