Pascali's Island

Barry Unsworth
3.5
418 ratings 52 reviews
The year is 1908, the place, a small Greek island in the declining days of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. For twenty years Basil Pascali has spied on the people of his small community and secretly reported on their activities to the authorities in Constantinople. Although his reports are never acknowledged, never acted upon, he has received regular payment for his work. Now he fears that the villagers have found him out and he becomes engulfed in paranoia. In the midst of his panic, a charming Englishman arrives on the island claiming to be an archaeologist, and charms his way into the heart of the woman for whom Pascali pines. A complex game is played out between the two where cunning and betrayal may come to haunt them both. Pascali's Island was made into a feature film starring Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren.
Genres: FictionHistorical FictionGreeceLiterary FictionHistoricalLiterature20th CenturyBritish LiteratureEspionage
192 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
67 (16%)
4 star
145 (35%)
3 star
151 (36%)
2 star
42 (10%)
1 star
13 (3%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Barry Unsworth

Lists with this book

The Iliad
My Family and Other Animals
Corelli’s Mandolin
Books Set in Greece
344 books130 voters
Lord of the Flies
Treasure Island
Anne of Green Gables
Books Set on Islands
1047 books346 voters
Night Soldiers
Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem
The Riddle of the Sands
Best prewar spy thrillers
22 books12 voters
The Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Gone with the Wind
Best Movie Adaptations
438 books257 voters