HEARTS OF AMBER

Hearts of Amber chronicles one of the most extraordinary revolutions within the geopolitical order established after the Second World War– the Soviet invasion of Lithuania in 1991. Marcos and Alberto, two young Spanish journalists, accept the challenge to go there and report on these historic events.

The story of these young journalists allows us to witness through historical flashbacks the horrors of the deportations to the Siberian Gulags, the genocide and the harsh conditions experienced in the prisons of the KGB, the struggle of the partisans during the Soviet invasions of 1940 and 1944, and the brief bloody Nazi intervention in 1941. Yet, despite it all, the desires for freedom that lie beneath the consciousness and within the genes of the sovereign people persist against the threat of a new invasion and the long shadow of latent resentment against the Soviet narrative. These desires are like oil oating in a glass of water and a powerful force that prevents the Lithuanian people from losing their ability to hope.

The dream of freedom, like amber, has fossilized over the course of many years in the hearts of the Lithuanians and can never be diminished. In effect the novel is a celebration of the right to life, to love and the yearning for freedom that emerge from its pages like a balm in the face of the chilling memories of the adversities and experiences of the past and the fear of yet another invasion.