EBOOK
About
The most dangerous act in the Soviet Bloc wasn't espionage. It was wanting to be free.
In communist Bulgaria, a nineteen-year-old boy has spent four years planning the impossible. One border. Forty-eight hours to cross the most heavily fortified frontier in Europe-or spend the rest of his life in a country that has already decided who he is.
For Petar Vasilev, the world is defined by what is forbidden. Forbidden music. Forbidden books. Forbidden thoughts. A country where the State decides not just your future but your identity.
He has watched what happens to people who resist. The neighbor who told a joke about bread lines. The teacher who pointed at an empty bakery. The girl who played guitar in a basement and disappeared to a labor camp on the Danube.
He is done watching.
With a forged travel permit, a buried motorcycle, and one companion whose courage has never been truly tested, Petar sets out for the Bulgarian border with Greece. What waits for him is not just a fence. It is a minefield. A searchlight on a forty-six second rotation. Dogs trained to hunt. Guards with orders to shoot.
Petar crosses it anyway.
Beyond the Wire is a Cold War historical thriller set against the vanishing world of communist-era Bulgaria-its folklore, its music, its people, and the quiet courage that survived everything the State tried to extinguish. A story of resistance, coming of age, and the most fundamental human need. The need to be free.
For readers of Ken Follett, Alan Furst, Joseph Kanon, and Kate Quinn.
In communist Bulgaria, a nineteen-year-old boy has spent four years planning the impossible. One border. Forty-eight hours to cross the most heavily fortified frontier in Europe-or spend the rest of his life in a country that has already decided who he is.
For Petar Vasilev, the world is defined by what is forbidden. Forbidden music. Forbidden books. Forbidden thoughts. A country where the State decides not just your future but your identity.
He has watched what happens to people who resist. The neighbor who told a joke about bread lines. The teacher who pointed at an empty bakery. The girl who played guitar in a basement and disappeared to a labor camp on the Danube.
He is done watching.
With a forged travel permit, a buried motorcycle, and one companion whose courage has never been truly tested, Petar sets out for the Bulgarian border with Greece. What waits for him is not just a fence. It is a minefield. A searchlight on a forty-six second rotation. Dogs trained to hunt. Guards with orders to shoot.
Petar crosses it anyway.
Beyond the Wire is a Cold War historical thriller set against the vanishing world of communist-era Bulgaria-its folklore, its music, its people, and the quiet courage that survived everything the State tried to extinguish. A story of resistance, coming of age, and the most fundamental human need. The need to be free.
For readers of Ken Follett, Alan Furst, Joseph Kanon, and Kate Quinn.