Adriatic Mirage
– a novel by Béla Lendvai (synopsis)
After twenty years, Chris Valentine, a journalist for
Reuters, returns to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast,
where he worked as a reporter during the Yugoslav war, the Siege of Dubrovnik.
He is coming to an international conference – also attended by the American
president – with two of his collegues, Ben and the photographer, George. Even with
their busy schedule they cannot get enough of the salt-spice aromas and the
sounds of the sea. Chris meets one of his old friends, Marin, who lends him his
MG convertible and an amazing Rivarama motorboat.
At the conference venue Chris – under rather unpleasant
circumstances – meets Sandra, an attractive, cheerful girl in her early
twenties, who works as a hostess and eerily resembles Petra, with whom he fell
in love during the war. At that time, their relationship couldn’t fully blossom
because of the aggressive mercenary soldier, Rob, who stole her away.
Chris watches Sandra with growing interest. Her
cheerfulness and openness captivates him, but he is rejected when he first asks
her out on a date because the girl is afraid of her father who terrorizes her.
Finally they manage to organize a date and after wandering around the Old City
of Dubrovnik they have dinner in an elegant restaurant and get to know each
other better. In the approaching storm, Chris takes her home in the motorboat
and, after they say goodbye to each other, another motorboat starts chasing him
in the darkness. The stranger tries to capsize Chris’ boat on the stormy sea.
However, after a few dangerous maneuvers, Chris forces the mysterious pursuer
to flee.
The next day Chris accidentally bumps into his former
flame Petra, whom he hasn’t seen for more than twenty years. Petra is a
Hungarian from Vojvodina, who had settled down in Dubrovnik a long time ago,
and is still attractive but visibly broken. Chris finds out that she has recently
divorced because could no longer live with the violent Rob, who is still
harrassing her. Only her daughter, who is just finishing her university degree,
provides Petra with joy and pride.
The story alternates between present and past, as
Chris recollects his wartime days, how he met Marin, whose wife was murdered by
snipers on a sea-trip. He recalls his meeting Petra, their intoxicated,
ecstatic nights together, and their sad breakup upon Chris’ departure, in which
Rob played an important role.
Chris gets a little confused. After twenty years, he
meets his former love for whom he finds he still has feelings, but suffers from
a guilty conscience since he has just met Sandra. The young woman notices his
discomfort. When Chris takes her home that night, he is shocked to see from a
distance that it is Petra who is waiting for Sandra in her home. He realizes
that Sandra is Petra’s daughter and this painful discovery keeps him awake all
night. When he tries to talk about it with Sandra, she gets upset and burts into
tears. She accuses him of having slept with her mom, and raises the possibility
that Chris might be her father.
Chris also tries to explain this weird situtaion to
Petra, but she leaves him, disappointed. After her departure Chris sets off to
visit Marin in the borrowed vintage car. Soon an aggressive driver appears
behind him, starts chasing him and finally forces Chris off the road. His
attacker disappears without a trace and Chris is taken to hospital.
The journalist shares his weird situation with Marin.
The old sailor suggests that he should talk to both women and try to clarify
his relationships with them, but also try to do the same with his own feelings.
Meanwhile, Petra and Sandra also attempt to straighten out their situation.
On the last day of the conference, the police
interrogate Chris with regards to the accident and he tells them about the
mysterious motorboat chase. Later he takes his colleagues with the boat to
Cavtat, so they can board their plane and on the way back a madly racing motorboat
appears behind him again. The stranger starts chasing Chris, who skillfully
maneuvers between the cruise ships and with an unexpected move leads his
chaser’s boat into the navy ship that is patrolling the American president’s
ship. Both of them are surrounded by navy seals and police, and it turns out
that the mysterious attacker is Rob, his onetime rival, who – even in cuffs and
surrounded by policeman – is hysterically trying to attack Chris.
Major Zdenko, who had interviewed Chris, tells the
journalist that Rob was chasing him because he saw Chris walking home with his
daughter and he was also convinced that his wife, Petra, divorced him because
of the journalist. So he swore to kill Chris, but failed with each of his
attempts.
Before Chris leaves Dubrovnik for home, he discusses
the events with Petra and it is her, who finally closes their former
relationship so that she does not stand in the way of her daughter and Chris’
love.