Work of art

the long version

Why should this happen to me...? The cry that goes forth from so many afflicated by sudden, apparently undeserved misfortune or sorrow. There would seem to be no answer, unless the sufferer takes refuge in faith in some form of inscrutable divine authority to which, even while he rebels against it, he must submit. But Nikos Andreodis, son of a wealthy Greek banker and a beautiful Italian mother, is not satisfied with any over simplified explanation. He searches deeper, in the mystery of his own fate, in the writings of seekers who have gone before him, above all within the secrets of his own heart, store-house indeed for those who can find the key. But though the story itself seeks to explore heights and depths of thought perhaps unusual in the average novel, the elements of suspense and tension, humour and satire are evident in the variety of situations in which the characters are involved. There is a most moving love-affair between Nikos himself and Elena, the gifted young concert performer from its earliest beginnings to its inevitable end. Indeed this mingling of the complex demands of the day-to-day life with its occasional glimpses of a dimension byond the mundane may constitute an unfamiliar slant on suffering itself, bringing to some who despair a glimmer of hope to shine in their darkness.