"This gripping novel of the brief lives of four young men of different nationalities is chilling -- and all-too-credible." - John Osman (Retired BBC Foreign Correspondent)

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They started as friends, but the war made them enemies.

As schoolboys, Godfrey Jenkins and Rolf Muller participate in exchange visits. During his visit to Rolf's school, Godfrey meets Rolf's Italian cousin, Marco, accompanied by his Greek friend, Yiannis from their homes on the Aegean island of Leros, then under Italian rule.

Shocked by Hitler's warmongering speech at the Nuremberg rally, Godfrey and Yiannis leave for home, determined to oppose the German jackboot.

Yiannis, however, does not reach home.

On the way back he joins a Greek merchant ship and subsequently serves his country's Navy on the famous destroyer 'Queen Olga' which proudly continues the fight against the Nazis even after the Greek defeat.

After leaving school, Godfrey becomes a soldier. He escapes at Dunkirk and is posted to North Africa where he joins the Long-Range Desert Group.

Marco, a German speaker, serves in North Africa as a liaison officer with the Wehrmacht.

Rolf realises his life's ambition by becoming a Luftwaffe ace in Spain, France, Russia and finally Greece.

The destinies of the four overlap tragically in the battle on the island of Leros, as the Italian nation overthrows Mussolini and casts in its lot with the Allies against the Nazis.

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“Mi è molto piaciuto. La storia dei vari personaggi, e il loro intreccio, il modo in cui inspiegabilmente i loro destini si uniscano e tragicamente... Bello!”

”I loved it. The history of the various characters, and their intertwining, the way in which inexplicably their destinies tragically unite ... Beautiful!”