Based on a True Story
From the concrete canyons of lower Manhattan to the ruins of Ancient Greece, Marathon is a deeply personal tour de force of a woman who turns her back on the modern world in order to unravel the secrets of her past.
Meet Marianna Gardner—intelligent, beautiful, successful, yet empty, sad and searching. Marianna is a partner in a prominent Manhattan law firm, but her rise to the top has come at a price: She has become so hardened that she missed her own father’s funeral.
Enter Ion Theodore, a charming yet lonely old Greek man who has known Marianna since she was a child. A teacher, artist, and marathon runner, Ion is a man of uncommon experience and wisdom. When the two unexpectedly reconnect in a dilapidated Queens nursing home, Marianna finds herself entranced by "Uncle" Ion’s quiet life force.
Soon after their meeting, Marianna finds herself compelled to accompany Ion on a pilgrimage back to his homeland of Greece. There she stumbles upon Ion’s hidden journals, with their tantalizing allusions to a lost obol, once possessed by Ion. It was the obol actually worn by Pheidippides, the legendary hero who ran from Marathon to Athens to warn the Greeks of the invading Persians. As Marianna unearths these secrets of the past, she also begins to see her own future and learns how her destiny is inescapably linked to Ion’s.
Framed by the story of Pheidippides’ celebrated run, the novel is steeped in mythology and mystery. With a deft and certain hand, author W. William Winokur ponders the essential questions of life and death, the intersection of past and present, the struggle of duty versus passion, all while exploring one woman’s discovery of herself through ancient myths, lost journals, impossible loves, and timeless souls.
Marathon is a richly imagined work that sets the conflict and intrigue of the ancient world against the reality of contemporary life. Compelling, thought provoking, and thoroughly engaging, Marathon is a powerful statement about the choices we make in life, and how to create a life worth living.
