In this thriller about love, betrayal, and the price of revenge, Marta comes of age in Croatia shortly before the fall of communism in Europe. After the atrocious war in her homeland destroys her innocence and her hometown of Vukovar falls to the enemy, she is forced to flee. Left only with haunting memories and difficult questions, Marta tries to rebuild her shattered life in New York, but the unforgiving metropolis holds challenges far greater than she could have foreseen. There she finds the man she once loved and lost, and has to confront the ghastly events from her past. Trapped in a labyrinth of secrets and lies, Marta struggles to find a way out and return to the light.

Reviews

Kirkus Indie Review-
A young Croatian girl dreams of America in this debut historical novel.
In this book, Raguz tells the story of Marta Tomic, a girl growing up in the Croatian city of Vukovar during the reign of Yugoslavian dictator Josip Tito in the 1970s. Her father loses his job due to his involvement in the Croatian Spring political movement years earlier, and her family is under constant scrutiny because of their Roman Catholic faith and refusal to join the Communist Party. But Marta finds solace in watching American movies and acting in school plays. When she’s chosen to participate in a student exchange program in New York City, she’s overjoyed. She’s even more excited when she meets her host family and finds that the parents have a handsome son, Ian. But even in America, life is not all sunshine and rainbows.
And more conflicts await Marta when she returns to Croatia, as a change in regimes threatens to spark a war between the Communists and the nationalists. Throughout the many changes in her country and her own life, she keeps up her love for and connection to the U.S.—and to one American man in particular—while struggling to cultivate her talent for the theater. The narrative moves along at a quick pace despite the book’s length. Marta makes a sympathetic protagonist, and when she and her loved ones are in danger, it’s easy to care about what happens to them.
An earnest but uneven guide to an oft-overlooked period of Croatian history.

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