To Snare A Wolf

   Robert Nowak’s To Snare a Wolf is a riveting fiction that transports the reader into the 19th century French and Prussian cultures transversing many parts of the Fa Day See ekla or end of the century. Including is a Moulin Rouge nightclub entertainer, a Parisian Bordello, studios of the impressionists’ painters. Sit and enjoy the Champs-Elysee cafes. Nowak intensely describes the character’s emotions and detail background using sights, sounds and touching.

Divided into three different “books,” To Snare a Wolf is a tale of espionage revolving around two main characters: Christian Dejoux and Berlin aristocrat Wolfgang Loewenhardt. This is a coming-of-age tale for 14 year-old Christian, whose romantic idea of war and crushing the Prussians is quickly shattered when he suffers a bayonet wound in his arm. His naïveté is exposed as the narrator states, “the lad was cold, soaked to the core, exhausted from loss of sleep, and frightened by the death around him. He wished he was back in his warm bed in Strasbourg, Alsace, eating his mother’s cooking and still attending school with his friends.”

After the death of his father, Christian must sacrifice his friends and his comfortable life in Strasbourg in the interest of his own survival, which means moving in with his drunkard uncle in Paris. His life turns upside-down when he returns to Strasbourg to find that his mother has been killed and his childhood city destroyed. These unfortunate events put Christian front and center in the war, and lead to his inevitable encounter with Wolfgang Loewenhardt.

The book provides a refreshing and vivid angle in depicting late 19th century culture with the presence of the most famous Parisian artists of the time, including Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. In fact, Manet hires Christian to pose as a fifer boy for his famous artistic endeavor.

Christian is adopted by his late father’s friend and attends the prestigious St. Cyr Military Academy near Paris. At his point, Christian leaves behind his childhood and matures into a young man, with an everlasting love for Heidi, a secretary of the German Ministry of War in Berlin.

Ultimately, both Christian and Wolfgang are loyal to their respective countries, dedicating their lives to stealing artillery design plans-Christian for France and Wolfgang for the Germans. The story assumes a frenetic pace when it is made clear that events will result in an epic clash between Christian and Wolfgang-the fate of two nations hanging in the balance. One quote by Napoleon Bonaparte that captures the spirit of this story is “God is on the side with the best artillery.”

Read To Snare a Wolf to find out which character ultimately gains access to the critical canon design and glory for this country. To be sure, Nowak’s smooth writing style with its myriad sensory details and fully fleshed characters will have the readers devouring this fascinating story- a story that will truly keep readers captivated until the very last page.