Bosnian War

When Simone set off from New Zealand in the early 1990s, eager to experience what the world had to offer, she couldn't have imagined how things would develop. The Iron Curtain was falling and the world seemed to be opening up to nations previously cut off from the western world. Against this backdrop of change, she was one of a group of Kiwi friends who would embark on the journey of a lifetime called 'The Serious Road Trip'. Initially sparked off by the plight of the orphans in Romania, they planned to travel by red double-decker bus from London to New Zealand working with underprivileged ...

It’s been 11 years since Gota has seen Kosmos, yet she still finds herself fantasizing about their intimate year together in Paris. Now it’s 1999, and, working as a journalist, she hears about a film festival in Sarajevo, where she knows Kosmos will be with his theatre company. She takes the assignment to investigate the fallout of the Bosnian war - and to reconnect with the love of her life. But when they are reunited, she finds a man, and a country, altered beyond recognition. Kosmos introduces Gota to Edina, the woman he has always loved.

A riveting novel about two women - one Serbian, one Bosnian - whose deep friendship spans decades and continents, war and peace, love, and estrangement, in the vein of Elena Ferrante and Julia Alvarez. From the moment Marija walks into Lara's classroom, freshly moved to Serbia from Sarajevo, Lara is enchanted by her vibrant beauty, confidence, and wild energy - and knows that the two are destined to be lifelong friends. But when the Bosnian War pits their homelands against each other in a bloodbath, Lara and Marija are forced to separate for the first time.