Roger William Day

Addie's Odyssey Roger William Day

There are works of historical fiction that ask, "What if?" before plunging down a rabbit hole of difficult to justify near misses and alternate endings. And then there are works that plot an alternative path for the subject's life that is totally logical and correct in every minor detail, had his choices been different at an early age, having closely studied his psychology and the venues for this alternative life story; also the biographies of the characters who populate it.

Addie's Odyssey does the latter. This novel accurately, if ironically, introduces the world of European art, culture, and passion during the first half of the 20th century and inserts 'Addie' Hitler into it-not as a soldier/dictator, for he had avoided that pathway- but as a struggling artist and, eventually, art forger.

Drawing from historical fact about Hitler's early years, the story begins with Addie's attempts to gain entrance into the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, before exploring the life which he might have led had he dodged the draft in 1913. Then fled to hobnob with the 'Lost Generation' in Bohemian Barcelona, Paris, and just discovered Ibiza. Consorting with beautiful women of the demi-monde, increasing his intricate art fraudes and finally legally replicating Vermeer paintings for fearful Rothschild bankers; but inventing a 'lost' Vermeer of his own, which is his downfall. After spending WW II in a Paris prison, Addie heads back to the forgotten island of Ibiza, which he had known in the 1930s to build an new and quieter life. He sucedes, only to fall again, but dies happily acclaimed by the beatnik/hippy community as the island's oldest Bohemian artist.

A deeply researched and believable spree through a lushly imagined world inhabited by some of Western civilization's most notable figures, Addie's Odyssey is for people who like history, but love a good story even more.