The book tells the story of the events the killing of 22 people killed by a shell during the siege of Sarajevo from the perspective of four people. A cellist decided to play a piece by Albinoni each day for the next 22 days in memory of those killed. Arrow a counter-sniper who is tasked with protecting the cellist. Dragan, who has stayed in Sarajevo to work while his family escaped to Italy and wants to live to rebuild the city. And finally Kenan, who risks his life to fetch clean water for his family, carrying heavy bottles across the city. All of them facing the horrors of daily attacks by snipers and shelling.
The book bought back memories of a conflict that occurred within living memory. We all remembered seeing the graphic images of Snipper’s Alley
on TV and the fear on people’s faces. We felt that the author created believable conversations, evoked the feeling of being under siege very well, showed the characters coping mechanisms under extreme circumstances and the awful impacts of war on society.
The story bought to mind parallels with the current situation in Israel and Palestine and what happened in Berlin after world war 2. We also discussed how hatred begets hatred and how this perpetuates conflict across generations and beyond.
We gave the book a marking of 7/10.