COVID-19 i mjere prevencije

It is 1905 in Riga, a city rocked by workers’ riots, violence and pogroms during the waning days of the Russian Empire, when the Tsar is gradually losing his grip over his vast empire. Revolution is in the air — brother pitted against brother, social unrest and turmoil forces people to choose sides. Amidst this upheaval, a former schoolteacher becomes involved in the revolution but soon realizes that the impending war is bound to require more of him than he is willing to give. A year later, the dramatic kidnapping of three children has Riga’s police force on edge. Who are the culprits? And what is their motivation? The answers to this investigation mystery, where only victims and no perpetrators are revealed, will shatter the lives of two families as they struggle to identify who they should blame for the revolution.

Award-winning Latvian author Osvalds Zebris weaves a powerful tale of a country’s desire for freedom set against the backdrop of the 1905 Revolution in Tsarist Russia, a process that gave birth to some of the most dramatic events in the XX century. In the Shadow of Rooster Hill is a novel about the birth of the national consciousness of Latvian nation, one of the national teachers’ generations, the courage to oppose the insanity of violence, and the consequences of failure to prevail over personal fear.

The leitmotif of the novel is man’s path towards atonement of guilt, his climbing towards the hilltop of his own conscience, set against the background of momentous social upheavals of history.