Saz is the son of an excommunicated Greek painter of Byzantine icons. He never knew his mother, who died giving birth to him. He is adopted by a widow from Smyrna, who helps him through his studies. But Saz leaves her when his father dies.

He sets out for Africa with the “Moore”, a mask-maker, and Lata, an Indian dancer. Confronting their inner selves together, they learn about friendship, love, betrayal, bewitchment  and death.

When Lata dies, Saz ends up in Fez as a beggar.  There, he decides to part with the “Moore” and go his own way through the Sahara, heading for Black Africa. When he finds a father figure in the face of old Dogon, he decides to go home and become a storyteller, recounting his family memories.

At first, Never the Same Road,  the travelogue of a desperate man makes one think of The Alchemist, but Saz who is more of a Greek than a Christian does not have the benefit of spiritual support. In a concise yet admirably poetic style, Kostas Arkoudeas tells both an adventure story and a philosophical tale.

Kedros, 1999, P. 192