A film-maker and visual artist, Lara Haworth’s slim debut novel is about remembrance – personal and political – and was inspired by recent debates on monuments and statues of historical figures. In modern-day Belgrade, Serbia, protagonist Olga Pavic receives a letter informing her that her house has been requisitioned by the city. She will be compensated with an apartment in New Belgrade, while her home of 43 years is transformed into a monument “to the massacre”.
Baffled as to which massacre, Olga summons her children home. Her daughter, Hilde, is CEO of a construction company in Frankfurt, while Danilo, her secretly queer son, resides in Moscow, occupation unknown. The house is, after all, a monument to their childhood and late father, Branko.
