“Some Unfinished Business is a powerful, moving, and page-turning examination of loyalty, betrayal, retribution and ultimately, love, written by an acclaimed author at the height of his powers.”
— Gary Barwin, Governor General’s- and Giller-shortlisted author of Yiddish for Pirates and Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted

Is love more compelling than justice? A wife pleads for love. Her husband longs for revenge.

Gripping and evocative, Some Unfinished Business tells the story of a young man who is determined to prevail through anti-Soviet resistance in occupied Lithuania, imprisonment in the Gulag, and the icy hands of bureaucracy that attempt to thwart his love for a woman with a mysterious past — all while chasing the back of the man who dared him to dream in the first place.

At fourteen, Martin Averka met a teacher from the city who inspired him to seek out the wide world beyond his small village of Lyn Lake. Years later, having lived under the tyranny of an autocratic system populated by cowards and bullies and seeking revenge, he breaks into the Pažaislis Monastery Asylum to confront face-to-face the man from his youth who betrayed his friends and colleagues a decade before.

Antanas Sileika is a Canadian author of five previous books of fiction as well as a memoir. Working as a Canadian journalist of Lithuanian descent, he became involved with the movement to restore Lithuania’s independence from the Soviet Union. His collection of short stories, Buying on Time, was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour and the Toronto Book Award and long-listed for CBC’s Canada Reads in 2016. His books have repeatedly received starred reviews from Quill & Quire and been listed as among the one hundred best books of the year in the Globe and Mail. He has reviewed books for print, radio, and television and he served as the director of the Humber School for Writers until retiring in 2017. He currently lives in Toronto, ON.

Antanas Sileika's profile page

“Martin's epic life story, and in particular the electrifying reunion with his one-time mentor, is evidence of a writer with deep insight into the human condition. Sileika showcases his knack for building worlds that feel spellbindingly intimate while encompassing sweeping historical storytelling, much of it pulled from meticulous research.”

Open Book

“They say that history is written by the victor, but in this vivid and deeply empathetic novel, it is instead told by Martin, a one-time farmboy thrust into the dangerzone of the resistance as he searches for meaning and survival in difficult times. Antanas Sileika braids Martin’s remarkable story through the turbulent, ever-changing history of mid-20th century Lithuania as he confronts who he is, what he values and who he hopes to be. Some Unfinished Business is a powerful, moving, and page-turning examination of loyalty, betrayal, retribution and ultimately, love, written by an acclaimed author at the height of his powers.”

Gary Barwin, Governor General’s- and Giller-shortlisted author of <i>Yiddish for Pirates</i> and <i>Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted</i>

“Šileika is no longer just a storyteller — although he has always been a master. In this book, he is a mature novelist, drawing us in to his world of well-researched knowledge and vivid imagination with succinct language, precise detail and insight.”

Tėviškės žiburiai

“Some Unfinished Business is a very readable example of historical fiction, with vivid characters and a compelling storyline. Sileika has combined history and fiction in a way that makes the events of mid-20th century Lithuania relevant and interesting, regardless of the current political situation in eastern Europe.”

Winnipeg Free Press

“Set in the relentless, menacing atmosphere of a Soviet Socialist Republic, Antanas Sileika’s novel grabs you by the arm and never lets go until the last moment. The story of the two men at the heart of this tale is profoundly human and universal as are betrayal and survival.”

Anna Porter, author of <i>The Ghosts of Europe: Journeys through Central Europe’s Troubled Past and Uncertain Future</i>; <i>Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust</i>; and <i>The Storyteller: A Memoir of Secrets, Magic and Lies</i>

“Antanas Sileika is such an intelligent and compassionate writer. His latest novel Some Unfinished Business, evokes post World War II Lithuania, the land of lingering ghosts where the past poisons the future. A gripping story of shattering betrayals and fragile hope.”

Eva Stachniak, author of <i>The School of Mirrors</i>

“In Some Unfinished Business, Antanas Sileika employs several effective strategies for creating suspense. . . . Some Unfinished Business largely resists easy answers. In addition to vividly portraying the everyday struggles of life under Soviet rule, it explores questions of complicity and innocence with nuance.”

Literary Review of Canada