Anatolia, 1922. Pursued by a Turkish army after three years of Greek occupation, a retreating Greek brigade has lost its way. Commanded by a brigadier with a passion for Greek mythology and a secret addiction to morphine, the brigade's only chance of salvation is to reach the Mediterranean coast and sail home. As the army wanders through the inhospitable land, morale crumbles among the troops, a spate of thefts goes unsolved and every man's thoughts retrurn to a terrible act of vengeance committed by the brigade.
Their luck seems to change, when they come across a small town, up until then untouched by the war, where the mayor and schoolteacher are in competition for the favours of the local courtesan and a failed newspaper correspondent is drinking himself to death for lack of a story.
But instead of outrunning its Furies, the brigade brings them to this seemingly idyllic palace, with fateful consequences for soldiers and citizens alike.
Panos Karnezis was born in Greece in 1967 and came to England in 1992. He studied engineering at Oxford and worked in industry before starting to write in English. He studied for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He is the author ofLittle Infamies,a collection of connected short stories set in a nameless Greek village, and the novels;The Maze, shortlisted for the 2004 Whitbread First Novel Award,The Birthday PartyandThe Convent. Panos Karnezis lives in London.
