Tower of Skulls

David Crackanthorpe (Law, 1949)

Belgrade, July and August 1914, the last twelve days of peace. Theo Harris, First Secretary, is left in charge of the British Legation where an alleged accomplice of the Sarajevo assassins of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand takes refuge. The arrest and extradition of this boy, brother of Harris's Serbian mistress, is historically among the demands in the Austrian ultimatum leading to the outbreak of the First World War. But Harris doubts that to give up one perhaps innocent victim to the mercy of Austrian interrogators would save any of the thousands who may be called to die on battlefields. His doubts grow as war becomes more certain with the passing days. Personal ethic and the claims of love fatally conflict with professional duty and self-interest.

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