Ascension Day

Ilias L. Papamoschos

PATAKIS PUBLISHERS

The “Peristero”, a petrol-powered vessel, makes its maiden voyage across the lake of Kastoria on June 13th 1929, on the Ascension Day. Since dawn it has been carrying pilgrims to Dispilio, the so-called Island, where, every year on this day, after a mass in the local church of the Ascension, festive celebrations take place.
However, the third scheduled itinerary of the “Peristero” will never arrive, as a terrible shipwreck happens. The whole city of Kastoria plunges into mourning and despair, trying at the same time to find out who is to blame for this tragedy. A thread of fragmented stories from the dead and the survivors, inextricably intertwined, will eventually lead to an unexpected catharsis.
A captivating novel about life and death and the limits between human and God’s justice.

Ilias L. Papamoschos

Ilias L. Papamoschos was born in 1967 in Kastoria. He has published six short story collections and two novels. His short story collection The Fox on the Stairs and Other Stories was awarded the State Prize for Short Story-Novella (2016) and was translated into French (Le renard dans l’escalier, Le miel des anges, 2018). His short story collection The Memory of Wood has also been translated into French (La mémoire du bois, Le miel des anges, 2020), as well as his novel The Origin of Sorrow (L’origine de la tristesse, Le miel des anges, 2023). His novel Ascension was awarded the State Prize for Novel (2024). His short stories have been translated into French, Swedish, and Albanian.