This is a novel about war. The author examines the painful and supressed truth as confessed by a company of veterans who experienced the Attila invasion of 1974. Thirty years after this neglected not only by the politicians but also by the army leadership, war, these men fall into a reminiscent mood in search of the redemption of their devasted souls. A great part of the book is based on testimonies of Greek and Turkish veterans who have been both the protagonists and now suffer from the shell-shock or PTSD syndrom, as it is called post Vietnam-war. A bitter tale with positive messages of an ever current issue: the vanity of war.
Press Reviews
A landmark in the Greek literature capable enough of scratching open wounds -through exceptional writing skills- without drugging them in order to ease the pain.
Manolis Piblis,TA NEA (Vivliodromio)
Abstract from an interview ofthe writer to Ilias Maglinis (KATHIMERINI, 3/5/2009):
- You stay on a specific aspect of the issue with which no one has ever coped up so far...
I write about the open wounds of Greek history. The dead people of Cyprus is one of them, but the Greek uninformed society repels what does not flatter it. It is still a wound which we roughly covered and when you do this you are in danger of suffering from a gangrene.
- The main character of this book is also a lawyer and has a dark past from his military service in Cyprus...
Yes, this contradiction exists: on the one hand we have a concrete and successfull personality [...] but this man hides a dark secret [...]. It is not just a historical or political novel but a text which talks about the existential agony of these people and in a broader sense of the whole country.
