In this novel, it`s 1936, and Isaac Babel is asked by a mysterious man to help a treasonous associate named Lev Kamenev escape from Odessa. In exchange, Babel--who is in increasing trouble with the Communist authorities for his failure to follow the party line--will be given a passport to Paris, where his family awaits him in exile. THE KING OF ODESSA purports to be Babel`s account of the incident, in which he must draw on his wits to survive. (In reality, Babel was executed in 1939.)