A summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food, the conversation remains a gentle hum. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said. And with every forced smile the knives are being sharpened.
Journalist Mak spent the year of 1999 criss-crossing the continent, tracing the history of Europe from Verdun to Berlin, Saint Petersburg to Auschwitz, Kiev to Srebrenica. He set off in search of evidence and witnesses, looking to define the condition of Europe at the verge of a new millennium. In the voices of prominent figures and unknown players, Mak combines the larger story of twentieth-century Europe with details that give it a face, a taste and a smell. His unique approach makes the reader an eyewitness to a half-forgotten past, full of unknown peculiarities, sudden insights and touching encounters. This book reads like an epic novel of Europe's most extraordinary century.--From publisher description.