A personal account of escaping the Yugoslav civil war.

Loveric, an IT professional, offers readers a personal memoir of life during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the war that followed, ending with the Dayton Peace Accords. The book begins with an illustration of what the former Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito was (or attempted to be), with a personal account of growing up with a mixed heritage and the complications it created, especially with an assumed Serbian mother. Her personal remembrances of school, family relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships (all complicated by the uneasy ethnic diversity that characterized prewar Yugoslavia) are all set against the backdrop of the changes that pulled Yugoslavia apart and led to the war. She leaves her family in Sarajevo for an independent life in Rijeka just before the war’s outbreak; eventually, with the help of a friend, she escapes to a new life in New Zealand. The book concludes with a postwar reunion with her family and the discovery of a hidden family truth. Loveric’s memoir of life amid the breakup of Yugoslavia is thoughtful and moving but can initially be a bit hard to follow. Readers might not initially grasp the significance of her mixed heritage—Serb and Croat, until the moment she is seeking Croatian citizenship. And while the political backdrop to her personal story does not initially loom large, it becomes more significant further along in the book, as Bosnia (where she spends her childhood) becomes the center of the struggle. Later chapters include a harrowing account of life in a war zone and how it influenced her. Loveric’s book works best when it humanizes the story of a frequently forgotten war.

An often gripping read that reminds readers that the end of the Cold War didn’t automatically mean peace in Europe.