A filthy and exhausted soldier emerges from the Mediterranean wilderness. He is escaping from an unspecified war, trying to flee incessant violence and find refuge in solitude, but a chance encounter with a civilian forces him to make a difficult decision. On September 11, 2001, aboard a small cruise ship, a scientific conference in honoring the East German mathematician Paul Heudeber, a committed communist and anti-fascist and a survivor of Buchenwald.
As these two narrative threads weave and develop, Matthias Énard's dazzling, erudite prose vividly illuminates the devastations of war. Brilliantly translated by Charlotte Mandell, The Deserters is a triumphant novel that balances the weight of love and politics, loyalty and belief, hope and survival.
