Codex Orféo

Book excerpt: Explore shattering ethical, political and practical quagmires in this gripping ecological thriller. A tense plot deals with devastating scientific, secret intelligence and geopolitical issues. “You alright, Professor?” Mal asked in a whisper. “Yeah, I’ll be alright.” World renowned ecologist, UCLA Professor David Lev, aged 84, has just begun a contemporary odyssey. From delivering a plenary address on climate change at the Rio+20 UN Summit, he must prevail on a journey through sub-zero hurricane-force gales, impenetrable bogs and twelve foot drifts of ice in the forests of Belarus. Along the way, Lev’s journey directs us to consider such profound questions as: Are we our Brother’s Keeper? What are the ethical limits of science? And, finally, at what price, glory? It is not only Lev’s story that is the key to this page-turner but also an account from the days of World War II and the Holocaust, which hinges on survival. A constellation of richly nuanced, deeply drawn characters whose enmeshed lives and unique circumstances speak with resonance, melancholy, inspiration and unrelenting drama are all part of this complex and thought-provoking novel - including cutting-edge biochemist Dr Taman Chernichevsky. What has he discovered?