Description:
It is the end of the 1980s, and Europe is about to change forever. In a corner of Romania, two men await their fate in the continent's last leprosarium, as their reality literally begins to fall apart.
Brief description: Ognjen Spahic (born 1977 in Podgorica, Montenegro), is a Montenegrin novelist. Spahic has published two collections of short stories: Sve to (All That, 2001) and Zimska potraga (Winter Search, 2007). His novel Hansenova djeca (Hansen's Children, 2004) won him the 2005 Mesa Selimovic Prize for the best new novel from Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. To date, Hansenova djeca has been published in French, Italian, Slovenian, Romanian, Hungarian, Macedonian and English by the UK publisher Istros BooksHis short story "Raymond is No Longer with Us-Carver is Dead" was included in the anthology Best European Fiction 2011 published by Dalkey Archive Press in the USA. In 2007, he was a writing resident at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program.[1]In 2011, he was the recipient of Romania's Ovid Festival Prize, [2] awarded to a prominent young talent.
Review Quotes:
''Appalling and tragic, Ognjen Spahic's exceptional short novel animates the misery of Ceasescu's Romania and its inglorious fall with a metaphor fully up to the task: leprosy.'' Elsbeth Lindner, BookOxygen
''Ognjen Spahic should be praised for using such an interesting factual motif to discuss weighty topics such as isolation, prejudice, and national identity. Modern East European literature is dominated by such themes, yet few have approached his with originality and inventiveness exhibited in Hansen's Children. Translated by Will Firth, the novel received the Ovid Festival Prize in 2011. Winning alongside Milan Kundera, Spahic is in good company.'' Richard W. Jackson, BookHugger