Arch of Triumph

Ravic is a German surgeon living illegally in Paris in 1939 after imprisonment and torture by the Nazi regime. Unable to practise under his own name, he performs operations for less capable French doctors while avoiding the police, deportation and any official record that might expose him.

His relationship with the actress Joan Madou offers a fragile alternative to exile, but Ravic remains driven by the possibility of confronting Haake, the Nazi who destroyed his former life. The novel uses pre-war Paris to examine statelessness, medical conscience, revenge and intimacy as Europe moves towards another war.