Underground - Softcover

Sileika, Antanas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887627366 ISBN 13: 9780887627361

Publisher: Thomas Allen Pub, 2011

Synopsis

A tragic love triangle set in a forgotten place during an invisible war. Inspired by true events, Underground tells the story of a troubled romance between Lukas and Elena, two members of the underground Lithuanian resistance movement in mid- 1940s. After shooting up a room full of Soviet government workers during their engagement party, Lukas and Elena become folk heroes to their political cause, but are forced deep into hiding in order to escape punishment for their role in the massacre. When their secret bunker is discovered, Lukas is nearly captured. Believing his beloved Elena has been killed in the raid, Lukas is forced to flee the country and the increasingly hopeless resistance movement that he has defended over the years. Finding himself stranded in Paris, Lukas tries in vain to generate some political interest in the plight of his country. Settling quietly in Europe, Lukas falls in love again, remarries, and begins

About this title

About the Author

Antanas Sileika is the author of two novels and one collection of

Review

Underground might be described as a historical love story, but it is also a political military/spy thriller. Sileika writes with a spare style that suits the action sequences as well as the rare moments of tenderness or humour. Entertaining and sometimes shocking, the book describes a little-known period of European history that has been kept underground far too long. (Vancouver Sun)

...full of poetry and wisdom gorgeously expressed... a brilliant, highly accessible military history, one that remains largely repressed--underground-- in the East and in the West. (Globe and Mail)

It's a curious novel telling an unusual story...One of the best descriptions of life on the run by dedicated partisans, it's brutal in places, heroic in others, and always rewarding. (Owen Sound Sun Times)

In an uncompromising novel, post-war Lithuania receives its due. (Literary Review of Canada)

Sileika's novel is a gripping tale...engag[ing] the reader to the last page. (National Post)

The tale is briskly told, with pages of dialogue and swift changes of scenery. You can almost see the film script emerging. (The Edmonton Journal)

Seleika does capture the partisans droll humour and aphorisms in many passages (The Toronto Star)

...elegant thinking that characterizes this rare and compelling chronicle of Lithuanian partisans... (The Globe and Mail)

...an evocation of the harsh, often brutal life endured by partisans in their struggle to bring the attention of the West to their plight. (Quill and Quire)

Entertaining and sometimes shocking the book describes a little known period of European history that has been kept underground far too long. (The Gazette)

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Allen Pub
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0887627366
• ISBN 13: 9780887627361
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 310