Robert Egby

The Urkiola Boy Robert Egby

When a teenage youth barely alive gets washed up on a British beach, it triggers British Intelligence to investigate. They discover he's Basque with strange and unique abilities some 6,000 years-old. Using the slingshot and reading Cuneiform, the Babylonian language are just two. The problem is amnesia. A leading hypnoanalyst helps the fellow remember torturing events from the Spanish Civil War and the youth, Mikel Ybarra vows to return and kill the murderers.

But British Intelligence plans to use Mikel to assassinate the pro-Nazi Spanish Dictator, Francisco Franco before he gives access to Germany's forces to take Gibraltar and gain another base in Morocco and North-west Africa. He's trained in combat with the British Army's elite Long Range Desert Force in Egypt before being sent to Spain.

But Mikel is no ordinary person. His back carries the ancient birthmark of the tribe of Jubal and Tubal which means he has his own agenda of teaching in the Basque Country and accessing the mountain hideaway of the ancients. Also uppermost is finding his sister and the young woman he loves, both in the hands of Franco's Nationalists.

This historical novel, set in real time from 1937 to 1943, frequently displays a background of real people. The British born author spent a total of almost three months spread over five years studying in the Basque Country - or Euskal Herria as it is properly known.