Set in an unnamed country in the Balkans, the story is narrated by Natalia, a doctor taking medical care over the border to an orphanage, to a village which was once part of her own country, where her surname and accent mark her as the enemy. She receives a call from her grandmother telling her of the death of her grandfather and the book spins off into an intricately constructed web of stories about her grandfather's past and that of her war scarred country, of the death that stalks every tale, of the tiny parochial village his grandfather was raised in. There are many unspokens, children are orphaned and raised by grandparents without explanation, war has marched across the countryside so many times bodies are buried in vineyards and mines hidden in the beauty of forests. Not least of all, every anecdote is achingly beautifully written and captivating, myth, superstition and the power of story plaited together.
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