Croatian War Nocturnal is a fictionalized memoir of the wars in former
Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, told from the perspective of a Croatian
Esperanto activist and teacher. Composed on an early machine-translation
computer while the author hid in her bathroom during bomb raids, the
book consists of short, interconnected episodes describing the daily
traumas of war and genocide and their effect on life and family, memory
and language. Told in a unique and elegant staccato style, it's an
emotional account of a woman trying to make sense of the seeming
collapse of the two utopian projects that have framed her
life--Yugoslavia and Esperanto. At turns somber and darkly witty,
Croatian War Nocturnal is a work of enduring optimism, a cry for peace
against violence and indifference.