A Secret Treasure
The Greek island of Rhodes: luxurious and hot, beloved haunt of the Sun God, steeped in the mysteries of the past. In the late 1930s during the gathering storm-clouds of war, it is a dangerous place to fall in love.
When pretty, passionate Eve Burnett meets the darkly intriguing Julio Falcone, she is torn. As a man, Julio is powerfully attractive. As a policeman, he is bound to be a Fascist. Her brother, David, who is missing, is connected to the Greek Partisans who wish to liberate Rhodes from their Italian overlords.
Now, as David appears at their parents' house soon after Julio makes Eve's acquaintance, Eve is compelled to hide her brother and a mysterious gold statuette. The Fascists are looking for him and this secret treasure. Soon, Eve realizes that she may be forced to choose between the man she loves and the ultimate safety of her family.
Length: 3 hours, 10 minutes
Author: Lindsay Townsend
Narrator: Melissa Malone
$7.99
Excerpt:
Infuriated by his obvious lie, Eve stayed where she was. `Admit it. You were following me.'
`So? Perhaps it is my job to follow you.'
`I thought you said you were on holiday.'
`And also to help Signor Grassi with the case of your missing brother.'
`So what about David? Why are you not looking for him?'
He shook his dark head. `Do you not think I can do more than one thing at once?'
`Why are you following me?'
`Because you interest me.' He looked her up and down and smiled. `Why do you think?'
His frank admission made her forget altogether that he was a stranger, or a threat. At that moment all she wanted to do was beat him at his own game.
`Fine!' she snapped. `Then see if you can keep up with me!'
She spun round, catching him off-guard and walking so swiftly that she was almost running. Ignoring his warning, `Wait!' she moved even faster, clutching her basket tightly and chanting in her mind, think!
Think!
Then she saw a way out. Darting into a nearby shuttered alley, full of musty shops and strutting pigeons, she saw a gaggle of boys crouching over a game of marbles. She called to them softly.
`Have you got a ball?' she asked the eldest urchin in the sing-song Rhodian dialect.
`For sure!' came the reply.
Careful that the coins did not catch the by now glaring light, she showed the boys a handful of change. `Yours—if you play ball along by the mosque steps.'
`For sure!' The eldest boy snatched the coins and roared off in the direction of the washing fountain of the Ibrahim Pasha mosque, his gang in rapid pursuit. Moments later, kicking a ball about the paved street, their yelling, boisterous figures soon surrounded the tall, light-suited foreigner, who could not move or see past them for several vital seconds.
Seconds were all she needed. Eve pelted down the dingy street where the boys had been playing. Soon she was hidden amongst the bustle of crowds, motorbikes and donkeys moving along Socrates Street, home of the long bazaar and, more importantly to her, one of the roads leading out of the Old City.
I've done it, she thought. I've beaten him. She grinned and swung her basket, telling herself she was glad, while part of her wondered when she would see him again.
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Customer Reviews
This subtle romantic thriller really got under my skin. I learned a lot about the Greek island of Rhodes – that in the late 1930s it was no idyllic place to live, and that the Italian Fascist “governorship” was stripping the island of its antiquities for “safekeeping”. But it was also a good insight into naive British thinking of the period, and shows how much society has changed.
The British Burnetts are academics, there for the abundant archaeology, who have made their home in the old Rhodes Town area, complete with courtyard garden, lemon trees, and a very important pot of basil. Their son David is a teacher on the island but Eve, the younger at 19, has never been considered by the family as academically bright, so cast into the role of housekeeper by her parents. Imagine that happening today! When her brother goes missing, and the Fascist police arrive asking questions, not about him but about their neighbours, it is Eve who begins to realise that her brother could be mixing with the Partisans.
But who is this rangy Julio Falcone? A carabinieri from Palma seconded to Rhodes to lend an air of respectability to the local Fascist regime, he not only treats Eve like a person, but as if her opinions matter. But he’s a Fascist, too, so is he playing court only to elicit information about her missing brother and the dubious affiliations of their neighbours? Eve is torn between a growing attraction to him, fears of disloyalty and an emergent sense of her own integrity. It was a joy to listen to her come alive. Julio, too, is no 2D character, but saying more would give the story away.
Lindsay Townsend’s writing evokes not just pictures, but smells and noise - and the continuing quiet threat of living beneath an imposed regime, all brought alive by the reader. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will seek out her other books. Oh that *they* were on audio for the daily commute!
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