On his last long walk, septuagenarian war hero, deserter, and professor Alessandro Giuliani shares his past with an illiterate young factory worker—spinning a remarkable tale of heart-stopping escapes, of loves unrequited and won, of madmen, dwarfs, and mafiosi. But overshadowing all is his most miraculous and terrible adventure, the Great War—a surreal parade of horrors that devastated and defined Alessandro, yet enabled him to experience fully the magic and beauty of the absurd human comedy called life.

Mark Helprin has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among many other publications. His collection The Pacific and Other Stories was published in the fall of 2004. He lives in Virginia.