The Detour
- Author Andromeda Romano-Lax
- Narrator Dan Butler
- Publisher Blackstone Publishing
- Run Time 8 hours and 17 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Fiction: general and literary, Historical fiction.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Ernst Vogler is twenty-six-years old in 1938 when he is sent to Rome by his employer—the Third Reich's Sonderprojekte, which is collecting the great art of Europe and bringing it to Germany for the Führer. Vogler is to collect a famous classical Roman marble statue, The Discus Thrower, and get it to the German border, where it will be turned over to Gestapo custody. It is a simple, three-day job. Things start to go wrong almost immediately.
The Italian twin brothers who have been hired to escort Vogler to the border seem to have priorities besides the task at hand—wild romances, perhaps even criminal jobs on the side—and Vogler quickly loses control of the assignment. The twins set off on a dangerous detour and Vogler realizes he will be lucky to escape this venture with his life, let alone his job. With nothing left to lose, the young German gives himself up to the Italian adventure, to the surprising love and inevitable losses along the way.
The Detour is a bittersweet novel about artistic obsession, misplaced idealism, detours, and second chances, set along the beautiful back roads of northern Italy on the eve of war.
Critics Review
-
“As Nazi Germany passes from living memory, novels that allow the reader
Mary Doria Russell, New York Times bestselling author
to travel its ethical landscape are increasingly important. Andromeda
Romano-Lax has a fine feel for moments of clarity that are recognized
only in hindsight, when chance and personal defects—moral and
physical—combine to produce heroism, or mediocrity, or cowardice.” -
“Romano-Lax brings inertia to her narrative, deflating the foreboding of this German’s imploding assignment.”
Publishers Weekly -
“A gently haunting work of subtle and surprising wisdom.”
Booklist -
“Romano-Lax is singularly gifted: she creates full-fledged, engaging
Library Journal
characters and writes compelling narrative. Some of her descriptive
passages take your breath away. The author’s The Spanish Bow was a hit. This novel will make a splash, too, for the same reasons.” -
“With elegance and an eye for the unexpected, Ms. Romano-Lax distills
C. W. Gortner, author of The Last Queen
the often overwhelming anguish of World War II into this elegiac tale of
an earnest young art curator’s journey into Italy, where he finds
himself caught between his reverence for the past and the horrors of the
future. An evocative portrait of one man’s passage into maturity and
the resiliency of the human spirit, even in midst of the unimaginable.” -
“A poignant and important historical drama, as well as part road trip and compelling adventure, The Detour defies our expectations on every page. Andromeda Romano-Lax is a powerful and moving storyteller.”
Jennifer Gilmore, author of Something Red
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