by David Savill
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Bosnian town of Tuzla suffered a terrible shelling and massacre on ‘Youth Day’ in May 1995, and this served as an inspiration for the shelling of my fictional town of Stovnik. The account of Svinjare’s burning is based upon Human Rights Watch reports, and testimony given at The Hague contributed to the facts surrounding historical incidences of rape in Foča and Miljevina. At the time of writing, the Association of Women Victims Against War is still fighting to have ‘Karaman’s House’ memorialised. The young citizens of Mostar erected a statue of Bruce Lee in November 2005. Other events, and all characters in the Bosnian narrative of this novel are an invention. The realities of the war and its aftermath were researched through documented history in order to create a plausible fiction. The British Council does not run a Cultural Action Project Fund, or charge $85 for filling out forms.
To distance the story from the lives of real Bosnians, I have changed place names, and confused the geography of the country; some of the place names are fictional. Only Sarajevo appears as itself.
The novel grew from a desire to capture the humanity, solidarity and kindness of my Bosnian friends, and I am deeply indebted to them.
I am also in debt to those who helped me report events in the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami.
A wealth of books on the Balkans informed my research but I am particularly indebted to Misha Glenny’s The Fall of Yugoslavia; Dubravka Ugrešić’s The Ministry of Pain, her essays in The Culture of Lies and The Museum of Unconditional Surrender; Zlatko Dizdarević’s, Sarajevo, A War Journal; Wojciech Tochman’s Like Eating a Stone; Emir Suljagić’s Postcards from the Grave; and Elvira Simić’s moving diary, The Cry of Bosnia.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I hear some writers write books all by themselves. Not me. If it takes a village to raise a child, it has taken a small town to make this book.
It required inspirational and sympathetic friendships. Thanks to Ryan Davis, Oliver Williams, Simon Muttitt, Brett Humble and Joanne Bevan for putting up with me in the days of music, French literature and big mistakes. Thanks to Nicola Tyler, who shared so much, and taught me to be an adult. And to Carrie Rossiter for the letters.
I was never a brilliant journalist, and required the patience and tutorship of better journalists. Thanks to Steve Grandison and Esther McWatters. Thanks to Susie Mesure for giving me something to do in Georgia, Nadia and Lika Lubinets for living next door, Angie Calton for living with me, Dimitri Bit-Suleiman for taking the punches, John Shields for the headlines, Olly Bootle for being a dude, Jo Grace for the organisational skills, Natalia Antelava and Shahida Tulganova for being inspirational, Karen O’Connor for running the show, and sending me to Bangkok.
For allowing me to share a corridor at St Mary’s University, thanks to Russell Schechter, Peter Howell (who allowed me to borrow his fine surname), Mike Foster, Pauline Foster, Richard Mills, Cian Duffy, Brian Ridgers, Kathy Grant and Allan Simmons. Moreover, thanks to the students of St Mary’s University for allowing me to teach them, and to take so much inspiration from doing so. Thanks to Helena Blakemore and Tim Atkins for giving me a break.
I know the value of teaching because I had the privilege of being taught by some of the best. Thanks to the legendary Mr Brush, Julia Bell, Jeremy Sheldon, Toby Litt, Russell Celyn-Jones, Paul Magrs, Jean McNeil and to Richard Skinner for all his kind support.
No one ever had a writing circle as brilliant. Thanks to Thea Bennett for the wisdom, Martha Close for her understanding, Pippa Griffin for her passion, Anna Hope for her sensitivity, Keith Jarrett for the poetry, Josh Raymond for the red pen, Philip Makatrewicz for the knowledge, Matthew Weait for his mind, Ginevra White for her integrity and Cynthia Medford-Wilson for her acuity. You are all wonders. A special thanks must go to Olja Knežević, my Balkaniser and the best novelist Montenegro ever produced. Also to the early readers who dragged themselves through the bad drafts – Tanya Datta, LaDonna Dee, Nicola Mann, Zoltan Moll, Teresa Pearce and Sue Tyley.
In Bosnia, thanks to Dragan Išrilija who told me the story of his judo adventures. I am much indebted to Dragan’s family and friends, including Zlatko Isabegovic and Amel Išrilija. Although the story took a turn to fictional war crimes, my relationship with Bosnia is defined by the generosity, bravery and humanity of Dragan and the teenage boys who in the summer of 1996 taught me so much about life.
My experience reporting on the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami was shaped by my encounter with the brothers Fergus and Guy Miller. In the heart of a tragedy, they had the courage to tell the world their story.
None of the stories in this book would have been told without the patience and kindness of agents and publishers who thought they were worth telling. Thanks to Kevin Conroy-Scott for taking a shine to my writing, to Marika Lysandrou for encouraging me and to the obscenely talented Sophie Lambert for sticking it out over nearly five years. You are a marvel, Sophie.
Thanks to Helen Garnons-Williams for understanding what I was trying to do, and for working so hard. Thanks to Alexa von Hirschberg for picking up the baton, and to Lindeth Vasey for spotting things I could never have spotted. Thanks to Imogen Denny, Ros Ellis, Myfanwy Nolan and all the team at Bloomsbury.
Much of this book was completed at the residence of Nicolette and Bryan Neville-Lee, and I owe them a lifetime of hot dinners.
It simply shouldn’t be possible to have such an understanding, wise and caring family. Anna, Ben, Aggie, Pearl, Thora. Thank you. And thank you, Mum and Dad, Maureen and Christopher Savill, for making my own story such a happy one.
Finally, I would be nothing without Penny, Oren and Robin, who are continuing that story every day.
CREDITS
The author and publishers acknowledge the following permissions to reprint copyright material:
Extract appearing here from ‘The Right to Know’ by Amnesty International. Text copyright © Amnesty International, 2012.
Extract appearing here from Sarajevo: A biography by Robert J. Donia. Reprinted by permission of Hurst Publishers.
Extract appearing here from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. Text copyright © The Trustees of the Pooh Properties 1926. Published by Egmont UK Ltd and used with permission.
Extract appearing here from The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War by Misha Glenny (Penguin Books, 1996) Copyright © Misha Glenny, 1992, 1993, 1996. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
Extract appearing here and here, ‘For Hans Carossa’ from Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Ranier Maria Rilke by Ranier Maria Rilke, translation copyright © 1995 by Stephen Mitchell. Used by permission of Modern Library, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
In 1996, David lived as a teacher and a student among the refugees of Srebrenica, helping to organise a summer university for students in the safe haven of Tuzla. Over the past twenty years he has returned to Bosnia several times. Tuzla, and the real story of its ‘Youth Day’ massacre, became the inspiration for the fictional town of Stovnik. In an eight-year career as a BBC Current Affairs journalist, David worked on Panorama, This World, Real Story, World at One and PM. In 2004, he arrived on the beaches of Phuket two days after the Indian Ocean tsunami. He spent the next six months in Thailand and Sri Lanka, where he made two documentaries about the aftermath of the disaster. David has two children and teaches Creative Writing at St Mary’s University, London.
First published in Great Britain 2016
This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
© David Savill, 2016
David Savill has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them. For legal purposes the Acknowledgements h
ere constitute an extension of this copyright page.
This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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