Books from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Spanning the twentieth century, Kin is an expansive family saga that traces generations of one family through the turbulent history of the Balkans. Beginning with forgotten relatives and seemingly insignificant objects—a grandfather’s beekeeping journals, a rusty lighter, an old military raincoat—Miljenko Jergović reconstructs a world shaped by personal memories, family secrets, and historical upheaval. From the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the two World Wars to the Cold War and the Bosnian War of the 1990s, the novel follows the transformations of Sarajevo and the changing identities of the people who call it home. Blending memoir, fiction, and historical reflection, Jergović explores how political violence and shifting borders reverberate through ordinary lives. At its heart, Kin is a meditation on belonging, memory, and the fragile connections between generations—a tribute to a multicultural world threatened by nationalism, intolerance, and forgetting.

Set during the Bosnian War and its aftermath, How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone follows Aleksandar Krsmanović, a young boy growing up in the small Bosnian town of Višegrad. When war destroys the familiar world of his childhood, Aleksandar is forced to leave his home and seek refuge in Germany. Through his vivid imagination, memories, and storytelling, he attempts to make sense of violence, displacement, and the loss of people and places he once knew. Blending humour, fantasy, and painful recollection, the novel captures the way a child experiences war without fully understanding its political and historical complexities. As Aleksandar grows older, storytelling becomes a way to preserve his past and reconnect with a homeland that has been irrevocably changed. Saša Stanišić’s novel explores memory, exile, identity, and the fragile boundary between lived experience and imagination.

Sarajevo Marlboro is a collection of short stories set during the Bosnian War, portraying the lives of ordinary people caught in the siege of Sarajevo. Rather than focusing on battles or political leaders, Miljenko Jergović turns his attention to the everyday experiences of civilians as familiar routines collapse under the pressure of violence, fear, and uncertainty. Through intimate portraits of neighbours, families, friends, and strangers, the stories reveal how war transforms relationships, reshapes identities, and exposes both the cruelty and compassion of human nature. Small, seemingly insignificant details—a household object, a remembered conversation, or a fleeting act of kindness—become powerful symbols of a world that is disappearing. Written with restraint, dark humour, and deep humanity, the collection offers a fragmented yet deeply personal portrait of Sarajevo and the lasting emotional consequences of conflict.