Into Hell’s Fire by Douglas Cavanaugh
Thriller set in SOUTHERN FRANCE
10 Great Books set in CROATIA
7th January 2025
10 great books set in Croatia. Croatia, a Mediterranean gem, boasts a captivating blend of history, culture, and natural beauty. Explore the historic walled city of Dubrovnik, and wander through the Diocletian’s Palace in Split, a masterpiece of Roman architecture.
The crystal-clear waters of the Adriatic Sea offer countless opportunities for swimming, sailing, and island hopping. Explore the stunning Plitvice Lakes National Park renowned for its cascading waterfalls and turquoise lakes.
Indulge in delicious Mediterranean cuisine, savour local wines, and experience the warm hospitality of the Croatian people.
Here are ten of our favourite books set in this beautiful country.
The Collaborator’s Daughter by Eva Glyn
In 1944 in war-torn Dubrovnik Branko Milisic holds his newborn daughter Safranka and wishes her a better future. But while the Nazis are finally retreating, the arrival of the partisans brings new dangers for Branko, his wife Dragica and their baby…
As older sister to two half-siblings, Fran has always known she has to fit in. But now, at sixty-five years old and finally free of caring responsibilities, for the first time in her life Fran is facing questions about who she is and where she comes from.
All Fran knows about her real father is that he was a hero, and her mother had to flee Dubrovnik after the war. But when she travels to the city of her birth to uncover the truth, she is devastated to discover her father was executed by the partisans in 1944, accused of being a collaborator. But the past isn’t always what it seems… And neither is the future.
My Family and Other Enemies by Mary Novakovich
Mary Novakovich’s exploration of her family’s experiences in a Serbian enclave within Croatia inevitably confronts some of the darkest chapters of recent European history, yet it brims with an infectious love of the landscape, the people, their culture and cuisine – and of life itself. CJ Schüler, author of Along the Amber Route: St Petersburg to Venice
When I walked through the Lika region of Croatia, following the Bora wind, I met a shepherd who boasted of the strength of Lika people (and Lika dogs). Reading Novakovich’s enjoyable book, I now understand what he meant. My Family and Other Enemies is a fascinating exploration of a region that proudly sets itself apart, a journey through culture, history, landscape – and of course through family. Nick Hunt, author of Outlandish: Walking Europe’s Unlikely Landscapes
My Family and Other Enemies is part travelogue, part memoir that dives into the hinterland of Croatia. Mary Novakovich explores her ongoing relationship with the region of Lika in central Croatia, where her parents were born.
The People We Were Before by Annabelle Thorpe
Yugoslavia, summer 1979. A new village. A new life. But eight-year-old Miro knows the real reason why his family moved from the inland city of Knin to the sunkissed village of Ljeta on the Dalmatian Coast, a tragedy he tries desperately to forget.
The Ljeta years are happy ones, though, and when he marries his childhood sweetheart, and they have a baby daughter, it seems as though life is perfect. However, storm clouds are gathering above Yugoslavia.
War breaks out, and one split-second decision destroys the life Miro has managed to build. Driven by anger and grief, he flees to Dubrovnik, plunging himself into the hard-bitten world of international war reporters.
There begins a journey that will take him ever deeper into danger: from Dubrovnik, to Sarajevo, to the worst atrocities of war-torn Bosnia, Miro realises that even if he survives, there can be no way back to his earlier life. The war wlll change him, and everyone he loves, forever.
Dancing with Spies by Michael Hillier
Caroline Daley, escaping from a messy divorce, and her friend Brian Napier are on a ferry going down the Adriatic when the engines pack up. Somebody has put seawater in the fuel. The nearest port which they can put in to is Dubrovnik. But the Yugoslav Civil War has broken out and the city is under siege. So they are sailing into a war zone
Caroline finds herself caught up in the tangled web of intrigue which is just below the surface of life in the city as Serbs and Montenegrins try to wrest Dubrovnik away from Croatian control. She doesn’t know who to trust. There is no-one she can rely on.
In the next few days her life is put in danger as she struggles to follow the right path through the perils that surround her. Finally she realises she must follow her instincts as she falls deeply in love and discovers hidden depths of courage and resourcefulness in herself. She will need all these as the guns open up on the World Heritage city.
The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
Fictional Gost is surrounded by mountains and fields of wild flowers. The summer sun burns. The Croatian winter brings freezing winds. Beyond the boundaries of the town an old house which has lain empty for years is showing signs of life. One of the windows, glass darkened with dirt, today stands open, and the lively chatter of English voices carries across the fallow fields. Laura and her teenage children have arrived.
A short distance away lies the hut of Duro Kolak who lives alone with his two hunting dogs. As he helps Laura with repairs to the old house, they uncover a mosaic beneath the ruined plaster and, in the rising heat of summer, painstakingly restore it. But Gost is not all it seems: conflicts long past still suppurate beneath the scars.
Two Tickets to Dubrovnik by Angus Kennedy
Two Tickets to Dubrovnik is a novella centered on the bittersweet memories of an Australian wine writer’s visit to Croatia. Tightly written, the book is filled with information about the area’s history and could even work as something of a travel guide to Dubrovnik. Higher stakes might have made this a more compelling read, but Kennedy promises only a tale in which the control of his protagnoist’s life is taken from his hands, and in that he delivers. Still, the setting and history are expertly drawn, as is the protagonist’s unfortunate dilemma. Readers looking for a well-written, simple tale set in an old country steeped in history and color should find this a satisfying escape.
Croatia: A Nation Forged in War by Marcus Tanner
From the ashes of former Yugoslavia an independent Croatian state has arisen, the fulfillment, in the words of President Franjo Tudjman, of the Croats’ ‘thousand-year-old dream of independence’. Yet few countries in Europe have been born amid such bitter controversy and bloodshed: the savage war between pro-independence forces and the Yugoslav army left about one-third of the country in ruins and resulted in the flight of a quarter of a million of the country’s Serbian minority. In this book, an eyewitness to the breakup of Yugoslavia provides the first full account of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Croatia from its medieval origins to today’s tentative peace. Marcus Tanner describes the creation of the first Croatian state; its absorption into feudal Hungary in the Middle Ages; the catastrophic experience of the Ottoman invasion; the absorption of the diminished country into Habsburg Austria; the evolution of modern Croatian nationalism after the French Revolution; and, the circumstances that propelled Croatia into the arms of Nazi Germany and the brutal, home-grown ‘Ustashe’ movement in the Second World War. Finally, drawing on first-hand knowledge of many of the leading figures in the conflict, Tanner explains the failure of Tito’s Communists to solve Yugoslavia’s tortured national problem by creating a federal state, and the violent implosion after his death. Croatia’s unique position on the crossroads of Europe – between Eastern and Western Christendom, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans and between the old Habsburg and Ottoman empires – has been both a curse and a blessing, inviting the attention of larger and more powerful neighbours. The turbulence and drama of Croatia’s past are vigorously portrayed in this powerful history.
Croatian Nights by Borivoj Radakovic, Matt Thorne, and Tony White
For the last six years, the playwright and novelist Borivoj Radakovic has invited leading British writers to come to Croatia, and more recently to Serbia, and perform to huge audiences alongside the very best authors from the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia. The Festival of Alternative Culture (‘FAK’; both a festival and a network of new writers and publishers) is legendary in Croatia and beyond, and now Croatian Nights celebrates the networks it has created. Containing 18 new short stories set in Croatia, this anthology features nine UK authors and nine writers from the former Yugoslavia, most of whom appear in English translation for the first time. As Croatia becomes an increasingly popular holiday destination, and thoughts turn from war coverage and the Hague to EU enlargement, these stories capture the true spirit of this extraordinary area, and are a must-read for anyone who loves contemporary fiction. With contributors: Zoran Feric, Vladimir Arsenijevic, Borivoj Radakovic, Ben Richards, Anna Davis, Toby Litt, Niall Griffiths, John Williams, Nicholas Blincoe, JELENA CARIJA, SALENA ‘SALIVA’ GODDEN, MILJENKO JERGOVIC, GORDAN NUHANOVIC, EDO POPOVIC, ZORICA RADAKOVIC, MATT THORNE, GORAN TRIBUSON, TONY WHITE
Into Hell’s Fire by Douglas Cavanaugh
A novel that will appeal broadly to international readers, Into Hell’s Fire is an espionage thriller set in war-torn Croatia and Bosnia. Daring, dangerous, and dramatic, the story pushes the boundaries between fact and fiction. Lucas Martin, a retired agent of the U.S. government, is recalled to duty to assist Washington in deciding its Balkan policy at the beginning of the Siege of Sarajevo. Hired to accumulate accurate intelligence and monitor the crisis as it unfolds, little time passes before he is entrapped in a game of life and death with a sinister Serbian general. Crossing regional borders, flanking battle lines and dodging sniper fire, the stakes soon rise until the two players meet in a final standoff where there can be only one victor. Finally, Lucas is forced to battle his opponent face to face in a dramatic showdown. But does Lucas still have what it takes to save his life against overwhelming odds and when the stakes have never been higher? Will good trump evil in a world where rules and morality have been left by the wayside? Readers of Into Hell’s Fire will find answers to these questions and much, much more.
Clueless in Croatia by Joy Skye
D.I. Fierce always gets his man, but can he get his woman?
Actor Leonard Lupine is sick of his life, both on and off-screen, so when his agent suggests a luxury villa holiday in Croatia he leaps at the opportunity to escape. What he doesn’t realise is that his greatest mystery of all is waiting to be solved on the tiny island of Brač.
Does he have what it takes to follow the clues to love?
Enjoy our list of great books set in Croatia!
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