SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN?S PRIZE 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE
2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS? CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2023 SHORTLISTED
FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2023 SARAJEVO. SPRING 1992. Each
night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into
ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents ? whether Muslim, Croat or Serb ?
push the makeshift barriers aside. When violence finally spills over, Zora, an
artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her
daughter in England. Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a
handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the
assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating
over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over
and over. Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope.