The Trapped

Set against the backdrop of a devastated Athens, two lonely people, trapped in the silence and losses of a life they never lived, meet by chance. At the same time, a teenage migrant fights for his dreams, a florist buries flowers, a photocopier converses with its boss, and a dog provokes with its nocturnal wanderings. Frustration and a death-by-commission mutate into a challenge for a belated coming of age and a second chance. A deeply human story, a hymn to life.

In 1906, Giorgis Bakas, a boatman in Turkish-occupied Ioannina, swore an oath as a liberator within the ranks of the Epirus Society. His mission was to transport weapons, with the aim of preparing the countryside for liberation. In the early hours of 28 October 1940, his son Andreas, a teacher in a village in Epirus, arms his Mannlicher rifle and waits for the Italians whilst his comrades-in-arms, in accordance with the plan, abandon the border area. His mission was to ensure their retreat. In 1947, Andreas’s eldest son also loaded his own rifle, whilst his mother was forced to resort to foreign weapons. Everyone is called upon to liberate their land, defend their home, and either honour or betray their oaths. But what is it deep within them that arms them? Inspired by true stories and based on dozens of written testimonies, this novel explores the little-known, both historically and in literature, activities of the Epirus Society in the early 20th century, as well as the first fourteen days of the Italian invasion of 1940 and the resistance in Kalpaki, culminating in the dark years of the Civil War.