First published 2008
Francis Servain Mirkovic boards the overnight train from Milan to Rome carrying a briefcase full of intelligence secrets. After fifteen years as a spy operating across Algeria and the Middle East, he plans to sell his collected dossier of arms dealers, terrorists, war criminals, and shadow operatives to a Vatican representative. The transaction should buy him a new life away from the violence that consumed him during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. As the train moves through the night, Francis recalls the networks of killers and victims he has known. His memories drift between the women who shaped his inner life: imaginary Intissar, peaceful Marianne, perceptive Stéphanie, and silent Sashka. The journey becomes an excavation of Mediterranean warfare spanning centuries, mixing ancient gods with modern carnage. Francis sees himself as both witness and participant in cycles of violence that connect contemporary conflicts to mythic battles. The train carries him toward either redemption or deeper complicity in the bloodshed that has defined his career.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, 21st-century, espionage
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Algeria, Bosnia, Croatia, Middle East, Milan, Rome
Period: 15 Years
517 pages · Paperback · Actes Sud
Content warnings: violence, war