Review Tour + #Giveaway: Father of One by Jani Anttola @GoddessFish

FATHER OF ONE

Jani Anttola

GENRE: War Novel/Literary Fiction

BLURB:

Maka, a young Bosnian soldier, has survived three years under siege. When the enemy forces launch their final attack on his hometown, he must escape to the hills. But traversing the vast woods is a task against all odds: to stay alive, and to find his infant son and his wife, he is soon forced to make a desperate move.

Set against the harrowing background of raging guerrilla warfare and the genocide in Srebrenica, Father of One is, at heart, a story of deep humanity, compassion and love. It is the account of one man’s desire to reunite his family, separated by war, and of bonds unbroken by trauma, sustained by loyalty and tenacity. Writing in a voice that rings with clarity and authenticity, Jani Anttola lays open a dark moment in Europe’s recent history.

Purchase FATHER OF ONE on Amazon UK, Amazon US, and The Book Guild

Excerpt:

This is it.

He would shoot some of them, then kill himself with the last one.

Maka counted his rounds. One in the chamber, four in the magazine. That was enough. And he had the grenade. He clipped off a cartridge and put it in his pocket. How many could he get? One? Two? More? He decided on three. A good number. He’d kill two on the road, then at least one more with the grenade when they stormed the house.

Three lives for his. It sounded like some sort of a deal.

He placed the muzzle of the automatic rifle into the rugged hole and took aim at the nearest soldier. He was about thirty metres away. Maka would drop him with a single slug. But when he looked at the man through the sights, over the blued metal of the gun, he felt bitter about dying this way. He knew the man outside was there to kill him and his kin, but what if he, too, was somebody’s father? He was probably in his forties and distantly resembled a clerk who had worked in the post office in Srebrenica. This Chetnik also wore a šajkača, with its V-shaped top making his head look like a pig’s hoof. He had a messy stubble and a moustache that seemed to hang from his long, thin nose, as he stood under the sun with weary eyes.

So, you’re here to kill me?

It’s you who’s going to die now. But I don’t do this because I like it.

If there were a way to leave this situation without killing anybody, let alone himself, Maka would do so. Just it was too late. It was far too much, and nothing could get it undone. He positioned the sights in the middle of the man’s chest and calmed his breathing down. He took the slack out of the trigger, until he felt the tiny resistance of the firing mechanism in his fingertip.

My Review:

Father of One tells the story of Maka, a young Bosnian soldier, about how he survived three years under siege while trying to make his way home to his wife, Amelia, and son, Dino, a child he has never met, and escape into the hills through the forest.

His journey is both sad and perilous. It recounts all the people he met along the way who helped him in various ways. It describes how a professor and his son assisted him, as well as how a police officer aided him during his time in jail.

Not only that, but it details how he had to hide in tall grass without a shirt, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes as he concealed himself from soldiers. He had to crawl through the grass, doing his utmost to remain silent. He knew that if he made any noise, the soldiers would find him, and he would be dead.

His wife and family were left uncertain about whether he was alive or dead. It had been many years since they had heard from him or seen him. The story is told from both Maka and his wife Amelia’s perspectives.

Father of One grabbed my heart from the first page and held on through each subsequent page. Once I started reading, it was tough to stop, but I was behind Maka every step of the way. I had to know what would happen next and whether he would reach his destination.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jani Anttola is a Finnish novelist and a medical doctor. In the 1990s he served in Rwanda with the French military and fought in Bosnia as a soldier of the Bosnian army. His works have been published in the UK and Finland. He has spent most of his adult life abroad, working in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific.

Jani Anttola

Website

 

Giveaway:

$25 Amazon/BN GC

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