Istros Books: 21 books

My attic is the same as ever: quiet, lonely, sad. I'm going to write The Novel of the Short-Sighted Adolescent. But I'll write it as if I'm writing the author's Diary. My book won't be a novel, but a collection of comments, notes, sketches for a novel. It's the only way of capturing reality, both...

When Vladan Borojevic googles the name of his father Nedeljko, a former officer in the Yugoslav People's Army, supposedly killed in the civil war after the decay of Yugoslavia, he unexpectedly discovers a dark family secret which recollects the events of 1991 when he first heard the military term...

A cynical local reporter must tackle his most important story: to find out the true identity of the grandmother who brought him up and the mother who supposedly died giving birth to him. Suddenly, the past he has called his own turns out to be a complete fabrication: from the stories of his parents...

At first, The Coming reads as a traditional detective novel, but suddenly changes form with the advent of snow in midsummer. When the town library burns down under mysterious circumstances, the detective's long-lost son begins to get involved in the investigations from afar. He takes the reader on...

A Handful of Sand is a love story and an ode to lost opportunity. Now far from his homeland, the novel's protagonist looks back on his life, from his childhood, university days and first working experience to more intimate emotional events, making critical observations on human relationships and human...

Exile is a collection of short stories with the taste of a novel. The overriding theme is the melancholy of those who have been alienated from their homeland, from their families, or from society. By offering the reader short, vivid glimpses into other worlds—be they of real or fictional characters—Ilhan...

The Son follows one night in the life of a hero with no name, a writer whose life is falling apart. That afternoon, his wife left him, while for many years he has been in conflict with his father, who blames him for his mother's death. Incapable of finding inner calm, he leaves into the warm, Mediterranean...

After nine months of self-imposed isolation following his wife's departure, the hero of Seven Terrors finally decides to face his loneliness and join the world once more. However, when the daughter of his old friend Alex appears in his flat one morning with the news that her father has disappeared,...

Dry Season is a record of an unusual love affair. Anna is a 62-year-old designer from Central Europe and Ismael is a 27-year-old African who was brought up on the street, where he was often the victim of abuse. What unites them is the loneliness of their bodies, a tragic childhood, and the dry season,...

Avoiding the easy traps of politics and blame, Lazarevska reveals a world full of incidents and worries so similar to our own, and yet always under the shadow of the snipers and the bombs that we know are out there and that occasionally impinge on the story in shocking ways. One of the finest works...

The story of Ekaterini is the story of one woman who lives through the 20th century in a part of the world where a long life could bear witness to four major wars. This is history seen from the women's point of view, the story of the ordinary lives of the women who live through the turbulent historical events of their time.

Sal, the protagonist of Sun Alley, is an exceptionally intelligent 12-year-old boy, experiencing his first love. One summer afternoon, on his way to see his girlfriend Emi, he is caught in a rain shower and shelters in the hallway of a block of flats. Led by a strong odor, he goes down into the basement,...

Quiet Flows the Una is the story a man trying to overcome the personal trauma caused by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Through an induced trance, the main character of the novel takes the reader through three time periods: the hero's childhood before the war, the battle lines...

A young man is found lying unconscious on the outskirts of Bucharest. No one knows who he is, and everyone has a different theory about how he got there. The stories of the various characters unfold, each closely interwoven with the next, and outlining the features of what ultimately turns out to...