Random House, New York 2011

The most interesting fact about this novel is the biography of its author. Tea Obreht was born in Belgrade in 1985, came to the USA at the age of twelve and wrote this, her first novel, in 2011 in perfect albeit stereotypical English. This is a real success story for a 26 year old author.

Obreht  tells the story of her country, torn between war and uneasy peace, through the eyes of her heroine, a young doctor in present day Serbia. She wants to find out, how her grandfather met his death and so the history of his generation is unravelled. At the same time Obreht mixes facts and fiction and old folk tales like the one of “the deathless man” and many others.

As emigrants tend to do, she glorifies the past of her home country and embellishes the autobiographical story, she really wants to tell, by adding a generous portion of folk lore and myth.