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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Obelisk by Georgina Fatseas follows three Austrian youths, Oskar, Jaro, and Kiana, who flee Nazi-occupied Austria after their village resists German forces and is destroyed. Along the way, they meet Lori and Paul, German deserters, and together the group scavenges, evades soldiers, and crosses into Italy, only to be conscripted by the Italian army. After a tragedy in battle, the group deserts again and infiltrates Rome in a bid to rescue Kiana from Vatican-controlled servitude. Discovering corruption and looted artifacts hidden by the Church, they hope to flee north with forged documents and escape to Switzerland, where work at a hospital and conscription into Swiss border duty await. As war encroaches and trauma accumulates, they fight to survive and protect each other from threats, with Oskar likening their endurance to living "obelisks" of memory and loss.
The Obelisk by Georgina Fatseas is a quiet, thoughtful work of historical fiction that moves at a steady, deliberate pace. The writing is simple and straightforward, allowing the reader to follow the group’s slow journey through shifting terrains and uncertain loyalties. Much happens both within and around the group, with Kiana fending off a German soldier or the quiet burial of a British pilot being two such moments, but Fatseas never strays from the path, guiding the story forward alongside her protagonists. The progression through each location is methodical and intentional, offering space for the characters’ decisions and silences to settle. Those who appreciate character-driven storytelling rooted in atmosphere and subtle movement will find this story rewarding, especially as the narrative does not rush; it walks, and embraces its arc not with loud triumph, but with endurance and the quiet persistence of witness.
