At The End Of The Day

          1968—Paris. Europe. The 60s. Turmoil and innocence. Self-discovery and new freedom. Alex, a young American, Vietnam veteran, lives in Paris. The absurdity of that ugly war had turned the youth of America into cynics. Many went to Europe not just to flee America but to try to find another way of life. Alex, a freelance journalist, keeps getting too involved in the stories he covers: Greece and its police state; “Prague Spring” and the Russian invasion; Parisian students facing the gendarmes across the barricades around the Sorbonne.

           And then there are the women: Cécile, French, sophisticated, worldly; Iris, Greek, earthy, as mysterious as ancient Greece itself; Lisa, American, from a set of twins, innocent but not naïve, and as American as apple pie, along with a cast of unique and exotic characters, idealists, poets, artists, gangsters, and revolutionaries, all caught up in the powerful events of great historical significance to their generation.

          In 1968 our lives and the world changed. And the changes are still echoing and will continue to affect our lives in unforeseeable ways. Two major and momentous occurrences took place in Europe in 1968: The May students’ revolt in Paris which was one of the most tumultuous events to happen in this city that nearly toppled the government, paralyzed France, and defined the generation that experienced it. And the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Russians and its eastern European allies meant to crush the Prague Spring freedom movement.

          At the End of the Day is a novel set mostly in Paris, a magical city that has always been a great magnet for expatriate Americans. An intense, funny, rich and unique tale that deals not only with the events of 1968, but also with each character’s journey in his search for love, hope, self-identity, and for the place he will occupy in life. The first novel that uses the events of May ’68, in Paris, as a canvas to tell a beautiful love story that captures, in dramatic and vivid details what happened when the City of Love is bent on crushing youth and freedom.

Ed Levesko studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

 

 Click here to read the first chapter

 

 2013 new edition is now available in paper back at $14.95.   It is also available in Kindle at $2.99

 

 

 

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A La Fin du Jour

           1968—Paris. Europe. Les années 60. Le tumulte et l’innocence. Découverte de soi et liberté nouvelle. Alex, jeune américain, vétéran du Vietnam, vit alors à Paris. L’absurdité de cette guerre a rendu la plupart de la jeunesse américaine cynique envers son gouvernement. Certains ont gagné l’Europe non seulement pour fuir l’Amérique mais pour tenter de trouver une manière de vivre.

          Devenu journaliste, Alex se retrouve par trop impliqué dans les événements qu’il couvre : En Grèce avec la police locale ; pendant « le Printemps de Prague » lors de l’invasion russe ; avec les étudiants parisiens face aux CRS dans les barricades de la Sorbonne.

          Et puis les femmes : Cécile, la française, sophistiquée et mondaine ; Iris, grecque, évasive, aussi mystérieuse que la Grèce Antique elle-même ; Lisa, l’américaine, l’une des jumelles, innocente sans être naïve et aussi américaine qu’une apple pie, avec une galerie de personnages uniques et exotiques, des idéalistes, des poètes, des artistes, des gangsters, et des révolutionnaires, tous pris dans les évènements puissantes d’une grande importance historique pour leur génération.

          1968 a transformé nos existences et le monde. Et ces changements se ressentent encore et continuent d’influencer nos vies de façon imprévisible. Deux faits majeurs essentiels se sont déroulés en Europe en 1968 : en mai, à Paris, la révolte des étudiants qui a été l’une des émeutes les plus tumultueuse arrivées dans cette ville et qui a failli renverser le gouvernement, paralysé la France, et marqué la génération qui l’a vécu. Et l’invasion de la Tchécoslovaquie par les Russes et ses alliés de l’Europe de l’Est qui a signifié l’écrasement du mouvement de liberté du Printemps de Prague.

          Le roman « A la Fin du Jour » se déroule surtout à Paris, ville magique qui a toujours exercé un grand attrait pour les américains expatriés. Une histoire intense, drôle, riche, unique et émouvante qui fait allusion non seulement aux incidents de 1968 mais qui est aussi un trajet à la recherche de l’amour, de l’espoir, de la propre identité des personnages, et du rôle qu’ils joueront dans la vie. Le premier roman à paraître qui utilise les épisodes de mai 68, comme toile, pour raconter une belle histoire d’amour et qui saisit aussi, par les détails dramatique et vivants, les évènements de mai ’68 lorsque la ville de l’amour semble déterminée à écraser la jeunesse et la liberté.

Ed Levesko a été étudiant à l’université de la Sorbonne à Paris.

 

  Le titre est sur Amazon. Prix du livre de poche : $14.95 (dollars)  Kindle prix : $2.99 (dollars)

(French Edition)

 

 

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LONG TIME PASSING

It was the 60s. A time of turmoil in America. Young men and women who were facing a change of social norms, the horror of the Vietnam War, and racial unrest in the country. The younger generation was challenging the older generation for its hypocrisy, for its dependency on the status quo, and for its failure to recognize that the times were changing . . . facts that resulted in total disillusionment by most young Americans who simply refused to go along with the charade any longer.

Long Time Passing is a novel set in those times. Jonathan, the main character, was drafted into an army he did not believe in and thrust into a part of the country whose culture he did not understand and was opposed to.

          Despite all of this . . . he would find unwavering friendship among his fellow soldiers while confronting bigotry, prejudice and racism. And although an immense personal tragedy shatters his idea of who he is, throwing him into a long journey of despair while searching for his place in the scheme of things, at the end of the day Long Time Passing is also a great love story in which Jonathan finds redemption, and discovers love and his own humanity in a way he least expected it.

 

  Ed Levesko studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

 

 

 Click here to read the first chapter

2013 new edition is now available in paper back at $14.95.   It is also available in Kindle at $2.99

 

 

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EDDIES IN LIFE

Life is like a river, it creates eddies that flow, swirl, ebb and fling everything in their path, as they scuffle with the surge. No life is without strong undercurrents. We struggle with the flow. We do not control how events inundate our lives. And there are moments when we manage to come out at the other end scarred but, nonetheless, a bit wiser about who we are and how we fit into the scheme of things.

 

The novel, Eddies in Life, is an attempt to catch a glimpse of life’s flow, of its reality, of its fickleness. Three stories, unfettered, with no permanency. And like eddies in a river, they appear, create their own turbulence, and soon they dissolve into the stream of existence. Each eddy is but an instant, singular, a spin in time and space. And in life no eddy is similar, and no one rides it out in the same way. But we survive.

 

 

Ed Levesko studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

 

 

 

 

 Click here to read the first chapter

2015 new edition is now available in paper back at $14.95.   It is also available in Kindle at $2.99

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A contemporary anti-play with two characters–males–confronted with existential questions, trying to come to terms with who they are, and the total absurdity of life.

Nurture absurdity.
Nature is tremendously shifty.
Nonbeing is truly seen.
Not include tense scenarios.
Never invite the sufferer.
No indulging the slaves.
Nothingness of shadow life.
Natural in the obscure.
Nowhere into the gloom.
Now into the burden.
No one is cruelly innocent.

Ed Levesko studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

 

 Click here to read an excerpt

2013 new edition is now available in paper back at $9.89   It is also available in Kindle at $2.99

 

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Umbra

Une anti-pièce contemporaine avec deux personnages mâles confrontés à des questions existentielles, essayant de se réconcilier avec ce qu’ils sont et l’absurdité totale de leur existence.

Nourrir l’absurdité.
Nature est extrêmement maline.
Non-être est vraiment vu.
Ne pas inclure les scénarios tendus.
Négation aux esclaves.
Néant de la vie de l’ombre.
Ne jamais inviter le vide.
Naturelle dans l’extrême.
Nouer dans l’obscurité.
Nulle part dans la charge.
Noblesse n’est cruellement innocente.

Cliquez ici pour lire le premier chapitre

    Le titre est sur Amazon. Prix du livre de poche : $9.89 (dollars).  Kindle prix : $2.99 (dollars).

(French Edition)