Antigone's Wake

Athens, 440 BC

The face of Athens lies in the balance…

Under Pericles, the democracy is building its imperial legacy in blood, stone, and ballots.

Ruling the stage, Sophocles premieres the tragedy of Antigone, earning renown that propels him to an honorary status of General.

But the honour soon turns serious when war breaks out with the powerful island of Samos.

Can Sophocles the playwright now direct real soldiers in a war that will decide the fate of Athens’ sea empire?

Led by Pericles, the Athenian fleet set sale leaving behind their families for the certain tragedy of battle.

Arriving to find the people of Samos Town have locked their doors and armed their walls, the city is all but impenetrable and the Athenian Generals face a choice.

Do they embark on a savage war with deaths guaranteed on both sides, or the long wait to starve out their victims?

With severe clashes amongst the leaders and petty squabbles between the men, Sophocles is flung into the gritty reality of war with an unruly son added to the mix.

Praise for Nicholas Nicastro

“This books allows the reader to inhabit the Golden Age of Athens and to taste its grit as well as its glory.” – Bettany Hughes, authors of Helen of Troy: The Story Behind the Most Beautiful Woman in the World

“Based on careful historical research, Nicastro has crafted a novel which rings true, as true and as timeless as the plays of Sophocles." – Tompkins Weekly

Nicholas Nicastro was born in Astoria, New York in 1963. He has worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. His published novels include The Eighteenth Captain (1999), Between Two Fires (2002), Umpire of Ashes (2004), and The Isle of Stone (2005). His writings also include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment, and The International Herald Tribune.