To Look on Death No More by Leta Serafim is now available!
Set in Greece during WWII, it is a story that will pull at your heartstrings.
Brendan O’Malley was an Irishman with heroic ideals who joined His Majesty’s army to rid the world of tyrannous rulers—specifically Hitler. His former dispatches were in Cairo, challenging Rommel in the desert; his last in Greece the autumn of 1943, with the stated objective ‘to make contact with partisan forces and build airstrips.’ Parachuting in, he is wounded and is found by Danae, a seventeen-year-old Greek girl, and her brother, Stefanos. Although they confiscate all he has upon his discovery, they hide him in a cave for weeks saving his life. He, in turn, helps Danae’s family and joins the rebel forces to fight the Germans.
A true love story, as well as an expose` of what occurred in a remote part of Greece close to the end of the war, you feel as if you are there; so hungry your insides ache; so cold you shiver, bracing against the slicing winds of the mountains. Yet so in love, you are afraid to acknowledge your heart; knowing neither of you may exist tomorrow.
Thoroughly researched, Serafim’s documentation and pictures give breath to those who lived and those who were lost. Most WWII stories are written with Italy, Germany, Great Britain and the United States as the focal points, but who has read of the atrocities committed against the Greeks? Who has been satisfied with their meager atonements?
Serafim was a journalist at the Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau before moving to Greece, where she taught art and illustrated books. Upon her return to the United States, she wrote feature stories for the Boston Globe before trying her hand a fiction. She continues to spend her summers in Greece, researching her next novel. Her first two in the Greek Mystery Series, The Devil Takes Half and When the Devil’s Idle are also available. She is currently working on the third, From the Devil’s Farm. All are published by Camel Press www.camelpress.com Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com/authors/leta-serafim/
“A painful but engrossing story…. What saves the novel from a feeling of complete despair is O’Malley’s love for Danae and his growing love of her country. This aspect of the war was unknown to me before this book. It’s as important as the Blitz and the occupation of Paris, and Serafim makes me want to learn more.”
—Historical Novel Society
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/to-look-on-death-no-more/
To Look on Death No More, by Leta Serafim: An Irishman joins the Greek Resistance in WWII
Before I read To Look On Death No More, I knew nothing of the atrocities of Greece. Nothing is taught of this in American high schools. If so, it is so flightily mentioned that it is not recalled. Horrific. I found this site in my research after I finished reading it. Kalavyrta Massacre The visions are embedded in my mind. Serafim’s writing is so descriptive you feel like you are witnessing it yourself. I would recommend this be read by every teen and above as an educational addition to world history in a land rarely mentioned as desecrated by Nazis. Thank you for enlightening all of us!
BTW, I have read her first two, The Devil Takes Half and When the Devil’s Idle, and they are both fabulous! All her books take place in Greece. It makes me want to go there, to those very places, especially Patmos.
- CJ Loiacono