THE HIRED MAN | ARMINATTA FORNA | 2013

This book came highly recommended and, as I had never read any fiction set in Croatia, I grabbed the opportunity to read it.

Duro is 46 years old and has had an eventful life in the former Yugoslavia, especially during the 1990s War of Independence. Now, many years later, Laura and her children come from the UK to holiday in a house he has known and loved all his life. It’s been empty for many years and as a builder he offers to help restore it to a liveable condition.

There are a couple of shady characters sprinkled throughout the text in the past and present. A number of ghastly deaths, torture, rape and much heartache, although these are a very slow reveal as the book gathers pace. We would call this ethnic cleansing but that euphemism is never used. These past horrors are all told from Duro’s point of view but we are inured to the fear and dreadfulness as he has come to accept what happened. However, the narration is deceptive: it’s only on reflection that I gained the perspective that his unemotional memories give the traumatic events distance for his own sanity.

Although riddled with dark wartime secrets, betrayals and heartache, there were a few events that I thought would be part of the narrative, perhaps a romance, perhaps a killing field, neither eventuated but there is enough that does happen to keep the interest to the last page. Duro’s narrative is poignant and bittersweet but the remaining characters do seem a little underdone.

Ms Forna has a reputation for great writing and I enjoyed this book. I suppose my only niggle is around the first-person narrator, a man who commented on things that I found either not comment-worthy or found difficult to see how he would have an opinion. But these are mere trifles as the achingly restrained narration was excellent, heartfelt and harrowing. This is one of those thought-provoking books that stays with you long after finishing it. Of course, it is beautifully written.