
Estoril
Dejan Tiago-Stankovic(Author)
Apollo (Publisher)
Published on 8. March 2018
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-1-78669-815-5 (ISBN)
Description
Set in a luxurious grand hotel just outside Lisbon, at the height of the Second World War, Estoril is a delightful and poignant novel about exile, divided loyalties, fear and survival. The hotel's guests include spies, fallen kings, refugees from the Balkans, Nazis, American diplomats and stateless Jews. The Portuguese secret police broodingly observe the visitors, terrified that their country's neutrality will be compromised.
The novel seamlessly fuses the stories of its invented characters with appearances by historical figures like the ex-King Carol of Romania, the great Polish pianist Jan Paderewski, the British agent Ian Fleming, the Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Alekhine and the French writer and flyer Antoine de St Exupery, who forms a poignant friendship with a young Jewish boy living alone in the hotel.
The novel seamlessly fuses the stories of its invented characters with appearances by historical figures like the ex-King Carol of Romania, the great Polish pianist Jan Paderewski, the British agent Ian Fleming, the Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Alekhine and the French writer and flyer Antoine de St Exupery, who forms a poignant friendship with a young Jewish boy living alone in the hotel.
Reviews / Votes
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' -- Misha Glenny The stories, most of them true, from Popov's rigorous debriefings by his German intelligence handler to Alekhine's terrible death, are extraordinary... [Estoril is] a diverting romp' * The Sunday Times * Oddly captivating * Spectator * Absorbing novel set in the time of World War II... Witty and accomplished, it would be a good book group read' * Four Shires Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions
Height: 185 mm
Width: 125 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78669-815-5 (9781786698155)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Persons
Born in the former Yugoslavia in 1965, Dejan Tiago-Stankovic is an author and translator. He studied architecture in Belgrade before moving to London. Since 1996 he has lived in Lisbon, translating between his native Serbo-Croatian and Portuguese.