Girl at War: A Novel

For readers of The Tigerrsquos Wife and All the Light We Cannot See comes a powerful debut novel about a girlrsquos coming of agemdashand how her sense of family friendship love and belonging is profoundly shaped by war Zagreb Ana Juri is a carefree ten-year-old living with her family in a small apartment in Croatiarsquos capital But that year civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia splintering Anarsquos idyllic childhood Daily life is altered by food rations and air raid drills and soccer matches are replaced by sniper fire Neighbors grow suspicious of one another and Anarsquos sense of safety starts to fray When the war arrives at her doorstep Ana must find her way in a dangerous world New York Ana is now a college student in Manhattan Though shersquos tried to move on from her past she canrsquot escape her memories of warmdashsecrets she keeps even from those closest to her Haunted by the events that forever changed her family Ana returns to Croatia after a decade away hoping to make peace with the place she once called home As she faces her ghosts she must come to terms with her countryrsquos difficult history and the events that interrupted her childhood years before Moving back and forth through time Girl at War is an honest generous brilliantly written novel that illuminates how history shapes the individual Sara Novi fearlessly shows the impact of war on one young girlmdashand its legacy on all of us Itrsquos a debut by a writer who has stared into recent history to find a story that continues to resonate today Praise for Girl at War ldquoOutstanding Girl at War performs the miracle of making the stories of broken lives in a distant country feel as large and universal as mythrdquomdashThe New York Times Book Review Editorrsquos Choice ldquoIf we looked for and celebrated a lsquobook of the summerrsquo as we do that one song every year what will it be this year this novel would surely be this summerrsquos starrdquomdashVanity Fair ldquoA shattering debut The book begins with what deserves to become one of contemporary literaturersquos more memorable opening lines The sentences that follow are equally as lyrical as a folk lament and as taut as metal wire wrapped through an electrified fencerdquomdashUSA TodayldquoIntimate and immense Novi is a writer whose own gravity and talent anchor this novelrdquomdashThe New York TimesldquoAgripping debut novel Novi in tender and eloquent prose explores the challenge of how to live even after one has survivedrdquomdashO The Oprah MagazineldquoPowerful and vividly wrought Novi writes about horrors with an elegant understatement In cool accomplished sentences we are met with the gravity brutality and even the mundaneness of war and loss as well as the enduring capacity to liverdquomdashSan Francisco ChronicleldquoAstonishing an extraordinarily poised and potent debut novel a story about grief and exile memory and identity and the redemptive power of loverdquomdashFinancial TimesldquoAn unforgettable portrait of how war forever changes the life of the individual a remarkable debut by a writer working with deep reserves of talent heart and mindrdquomdashGary Shteyngart author of Super Sad True Love Story.