Novel set in ISTRIA (Croatia)

11th November 2022

Istria Gold by Mike Downey, novel set in Istria (Croatia).

To my shame, I had to look up exactly where Istria is located and it seems that it is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, shared by three countries, to wit Italy, Serbia and Croatia and most of the peninsula is within the latter.

The author has set three stories in very different time periods which is a very interesting way to bring a place to life, one story is layered over another and another. The earliest is 81AD when the Romans under Domitian governed the area and much of the story is set in and around Colonia Julia and the amphitheatre (if I have married up all the strands of history) manifest as Pula today, a sizeable and impressive venue called Pula Arena and is the only remaining amphitheater where the four side towers remain in tact. Definitely worth a visit in modern day!

The next period covered is the German occupation during WW2 and the activities of the Partisans.

The novel opens in 2019, as Marco, in London, is heading home to Croatia, having gone under cover as a police officer, infiltrating a radical environmental gang – he got in so deep that he built a relationship with one of the targets, something that is not unknown but long term it is unacceptable. He goes home to Istria to lick his wounds and to decide where his future lies.

As the timeline moves back and forth, we get a sense of the footsteps past. The glue that holds them together, apart from the location, is the two millennia (and no doubt more) of truffle hunting and selling. Truffles have long been a valuable commodity – the black diamond and the ivory princess – and it is very interesting to see how the stories in each period pan out and revolve a lot around this very specific and highly valued underground-growing fungus. It is of course eaten. It is hunted, it is smuggled and it is hidden away from prying eyes.

The research that the author has undertaken really stands out. There are eclectic details about life in Roman times, there is much to understand about the tough circumstances in WW2 and life in modern times.

I felt I came away from this story, feeling that I had learned interesting insights into this part of the world, it is always delightful to gain new knowledge without didacticism. I now would very much like to see the landscape and visit Pula.

I needed quite some nudging to pick this book up, I have to say. I was indeed judging it by the cover and I think, in retrospect it didn’t appeal because it has to my mind, quite a masculine cover, perhaps with a hint of military about it. Having read the book, it reflects the content very well but I am not convinced that this cover really will have broad appeal.

The author is a gifted writer and this is a very readable and informative novel, rich in detail and observation.

And if you are a sucker for truffle based novels, then let us steer you towards Tom Benjamin’s novel: The Hunting Season  which is set around Bologna, in Northern Italy.

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