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A captivating debut novel of impossible love and soul-destroying secrets where two young women fight to overcome adversity and transport the reader from Yugoslavia, to 1950’s New Zealand, and back again. Winner of the international First Pages Prize and shortlisted for the 2020 NZSA Heritage Literary Award.

WHEN SECRETS DEMAND TO BE TOLD . . .

Two young women, a generation apart, travel to opposite sides of the world on fraught journeys of self-discovery.

1958: Gabrijela yearns to escape the confines of bleak post-war Yugoslavia and her tiny fishing community, but never imagines she will be exiled to New Zealand — a new immigrant sent to housekeep for the mysterious and surly Roko, clutching a secret she dare not reveal.

1989: Luisa, Gabrijela’s daughter, departs on her own covert quest, determined to unpick the family’s past. But not all decisions are equal and amid Yugoslavia’s brewing civil unrest, Luisa’s journey confronts her with culture shocks and dark encounters of her own.

A vivid, engrossing family story that crosses oceans and eras, exploring the price two women pay when new and old worlds collide.’ — Paula Morris