Published today - Estoril by Dejan Tiago-Stankovic
A poignant novel about exile, divided loyalties, fear and survival set in a grand hotel outside of Lisbon at the height of World War II
“As soon as I started reading, I knew I had chanced upon something very special. I was completely hooked by a book which is a comedy, a spy story, and a riveting piece of historical investigation that seamlessly integrates these genres… A book that readers will race through but never forget.”
Lisbon, at the height of World War II. The glamorous Côte d’Estoril coast has become the favourite haunt of Europe’s rich and royal on the run from the war… At the centre of it all is the grand Hotel Palácio Estoril, where spies, fallen kings, refugees from the Balkans, Nazis, American diplomats, and stateless Jews come and go. The Portuguese secret police broodingly observe the guests, terrified that their country’s neutrality will be compromised.
Based on years of meticulous research, Dejan Tiago-Stankovic’s debut novel seamlessly fuses the stories of its invented characters with a glittering cast of historical figures – from the ex-King Carol of Romania to the great Polish pianist Jan Paderewski, from the Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Alekhine to the French writer and flyer Antoine de St Exupery, who forms a friendship with a young Jewish boy living alone in the hotel. In the casino toilets, the British agent Ian Fleming finds himself standing next to a man who would later serve as a model for James Bond, the charismatic Serbian double agent Duško Popov…
Published 8 March 2018 by Head of Zeus | Hardback | £12.99
Translated by Christina Zoric-Pribichevich
Winner of the Branko Ćopić Award of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Born in Yugoslavia in 1965, Dejan Tiago-Stankovic is an author and translator. He graduated in architecture in Belgrade before moving to London. Since 1996 he has lived in Lisbon, translating between Serbo-Croatian and Portuguese, giving Serbia the works of José Saramago and Portugal some of the biggest names in Yugoslav and Serbian literature, including Ivo Andrić. His first book, a collection of short stories, made him an instant literary star in Serbia.
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