Anne and I have just finished reading The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna. This 2013 novel tells a story about the memories triggered by the arrival of an English family in a village in Croatia and their encounter with the narrator Duro Kolak. It is a splendid easy to read but hard to put down novel that identifies the ongoing impact of the 10-year war in the former Yugoslavia. The tragedy of that war is slowly unfolded as layers of paint are removed from two mosaics by Grace, the daughter in the English family. Grace is aptly named as her observant character enables some of the harshest parts of the story to be told. Highly recommended!
seeing and believing 