From internationally acclaimed and Governor General's Award-winning
author Steven Heighton comes a passionate novel of buried secrets, the
repercussions of war and finding love among the ruins
Elias Trifannis is desperate to belong somewhere. To make his dying
ex-cop father happy, he joins the military--but in Afghanistan, by the
time he realizes his last-minute bid for connection was a terrible
mistake, it's too late and a tragedy has occurred.
In the aftermath, exhausted by nightmares, Elias is sent to Cyprus to
recover, where he attempts to find comfort in the arms of Eylül, a
beautiful Turkish journalist. But the lovers' reprieve ends in a moment
of shocking brutality that drives Elias into Varosha, once a popular
Greek-Cypriot resort town, abandoned since the Turkish invasion of
1974.
Hidden in the lush, overgrown ruins is a community of exiles and
refugees living resourcefully but comfortably. Thanks to the cheerfully
corrupt Colonel Kaya, who turns a blind eye, they live under the radar
of the Turkish authorities.
As he begins to heal, Elias finds himself drawn to the enigmatic and
secretive Kaiti while he learns at last to "simply belong." But just
when it seems he has found sanctuary, events he himself set in motion
have already begun to endanger it.
