The journey
Four continents. Three generations. Six key countries. The Fifth Breath is not a book that takes place somewhere. It is a book that travels.
Anatolia, 1922 — where it all begins
At the heart of the Anatolian plateau, in an underground chamber carved into the rock, an archaeological expedition opens a chest. The setting is harsh: dust, oil lamps, millennial silence. This is where David Kern's guilt is born — and the novel's narrative.
Berlin, 1935-1942 — under the Reich's shadow
The watchmaker's shop on Friedrichstrasse, the smell of warm brass, the ticking that covers the murmur outside. Aria is eighteen. The Reich expands. Resistance is woven in hushed voices, through the gears of antique watches.
Istanbul, 1942 — the underground and the Ottoman route
Byzantine cisterns, Galata alleyways, discreet smuggling at the foot of the Tower. The city is a crossroads: flight, refuge, and betrayal all at once. A key stage in the hunt, where several character lines converge.
Tatra Mountains, Poland, 1944 — the glacial crossing
The Polish winter, the Slovak border, the sheer forests. Don Anton leads the way, praying softly while walking in the snow. This is the moment in the novel where fear ceases to be a theme and becomes the ground itself.
Andes Cordillera, 1944-1968 — the South American exile
Buenos Aires, then the high plateaus. Another country, another language, but the same ghosts. Hernando waits in the heat. Kessler sinks into an obsession that will kill him slowly. Don Anton dies in the Andes so that a passage may open.
Irish coast and Shannon, 2025 — the transmission
A wooden terrace facing the Atlantic, the Shannon estuary, the salt wind. This is where Lukas finally set down his tools, his cellos, his silences. And this is where his daughter Mira opens the notebook — the final point of the journey, the beginning of the next.