Synopsis:

From the N.Y. Times Book Review:

"Alexander Ostroff, the narrator...is an unsuccessful writer living in London. In his early 50's, he becomes obsessed with finding the truth about his parens, Russian expatriates who, in 1919, fled to southern France, took up with a Mephistophelian character in Nice, and went into a mysterious import-export business...that apparently involved not only fraud and forgery but blackmail, betrayal and murder."

When Alex is encouraged to write a novel about his life, he must confront the fact that what he remembers is nothing but a tissue of lies concocted by his parents to protect themselves. It's only when his bestselling blockbuster of a book is filmed in London that he encounters the aforementioned Mephistophelian character--the "man from Marseille" himself--and it's only then that he--and the reader--learns the truth that lies behind the fictions of Alex's life.

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Author Comment:

My thirteenth effort that turned into my first novel.

Type of Work:

Novel

Publishers:

John Murray Ltd St. Martin's Press

Purchase From:

Barnes & Noble

Original Publish Date:

March 3, 1985

Formats and associated ISBNs:

0-312-51016-0

Publishing Notes:

Originally published in the U.K. by John Murray Ltd; henceforth in the US by St. Martin's Press.

Formats:

Hardcover

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