Historical Fiction

All countries Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bangladesh Barbados Belize Benin Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burundi Canada Chile China Congo, Democratic Republic Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia Cuba Cyprus Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Egypt El Salvador Ethiopia Fiji France Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Libya Madagascar Malaysia Mexico Moldova Morocco Myanmar Netherlands Nigeria North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Romania Rwanda Saudi Arabia Senegal Singapore Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Türkiye Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Newest first Oldest first
1
Newcomers: Book One
Newcomers: Book One
Lojze Kovačič
The first volume of this three-part autobiographical series begins in 1938 with the expulsion of the Kovačič family from their home in Switzerland, eventually leading to their settlement in the father’s home country of Slovenia. Before leaving their home, the ten-year-old son of the family imagines his father’s country as one of beauty and fairytales, but as they make their way to the land of their exile, the family realizes that any efforts to make this place a home will be in vain. Confronted by misery, hunger, and hostility, the young boy refuses to learn Slovenian and falls silent, his surroundings becoming a social, cultural, and mental abyss. Narrated by the boy with uncanny naiveté, the novel follows his family’s journey in a fragmented mosaic of memories. Some are innocent and tender, while others are miserable and ruthless, resulting in a profound and heart-wrenching description of a period torn apart by conflict, reflected in the author’s powerful and innovative command of language.
Slovenia 2016
2
Newcomers: Book Two
Newcomers: Book Two
Lojze Kovačič
The second installment of Lojze Kovačič’s Slovenian masterpiece begins with our hero, Bubi, once again making mischief in the labyrinthine streets, rooftops, bridges, abandoned butcher shops, and cinemas of wartime Ljubljana, with a coterie of scrappy sidekicks. Scenes of first sexual encounters – which are more mimicry than acts of desire – are interspersed with hijinks that replicate the violence raging across Europe. From the goofy, heady plots of childhood, Bubi emerges as a determined student of art, trading his handmade comic books for scraps of food and working day and night on a mural of Snow White for a nearby orphanage. Kovačič’s control of language, and Michael Biggins’s expert translation, form a remarkable fidelity to a time in which a thirteen-year-old Swiss kid, exiled and yet protected from the worst horrors of the Holocaust, envisions Nazi Germany as “a gigantic, black, marble block filled with Hitler Youth brats with whom I would have to stand at attention, striking some drum.” Book Two is so packed with arresting historical detail, so attentive to the intricate material world of 1940s Ljubljana, as to render the contemporary moment flimsy in comparison.
Slovenia 2020
3
Newcomers: Book Three
Newcomers: Book Three
Lojze Kovačič
The war is ending, but for Bubi and his family, peace brings a new set of uncertainties. In Ljubljana, the arrival of communist rule transforms everyday life, leaving people to navigate shifting loyalties, political suspicion, poverty, and the demands of a society being rebuilt from the ground up. Bubi fears that his family’s German-speaking background will make them targets under the new regime. As he witnesses show trials, homelessness, and the upheaval of postwar life, he begins to question the ideals shaping the world around him. At the same time, his interest in art and literature deepens, offering him a way to understand a society caught between collective ambition and individual freedom. In this final volume of his autobiographical masterpiece, Lojze Kovačič captures the contradictions of a country emerging from war, where hope and oppression coexist and the search for belonging remains unresolved.
Slovenia 2027