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| Dubrovnik, Croatia- Present Day Claire is scared. It is her first day at the Dubrovnik bookstore and she is not ready. After two years of having long Covid in London, she is ready to start her life again, she thinks, in Croatia. Vedran, Claire’s cousin, is not ready to get on with anything. His life was completely derailed after his live -in girlfriend disappeared while going for her morning swim in the ocean. Her disappearance started an investigation, and Vedran was suspected of foul play. Luna is waiting to start her life. She left her small town in Croatia to come to Dubrovnik because she could not come out as a Lesbian where she grew up, and then there is Karmela, a Professor of History in Zagreb, who is here to do research on the Ragusans. All are dealing with their own problems, will the book club they all become a part of help them? THE DUBROVNIK BOOK CLUB follows these four characters as they try to make sense of their lives and find a way to move past their problems and find peace. Claire fears getting long Covid again, having lost her life as she was sick. Vedran is trying to overcome the wounds and bitterness he feels at being accused of possibly killing his girlfriend. Luna wants a social life and does not know how to go about it. Being gay in Europe can be a tricky thing, while it is legal to be gay in Croatia other places it is still illegal. She also hasn’t come out to her religious parents. Karmela is considered a cold fish, trapped in the idea that she has no right to be upset about the war in Croatia because she and her family escaped. The story has interesting historical facts about the war in Croatia and it serves as a backdrop for Karmela’s pain and that of her neighbor who was a soldier then. More problems ensue, as characters start to get a grasp on their pain, that the bookstore is going to close. What are they going to do now? Can the bookstore be saved? THE DUBROVNIK BOOK CLUB is a well -structured book, each chapter begins with the title of the book the book club will be reading and is an indicator of what the characters are going through, and the POV changes from Claire, Vedran, Luna, and Karmela, while well written it was at time hard for me to completely connect with the characters. Although, Vedran was my favorite character. THE DUBROVNIK BOOK CLUB is a book for readers that follows characters that are interesting and, sometimes, frustrating but, by the end of the book, they all are in a better place. Avis Yarbrough |
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THE DUBROVNIK BOOK CLUB-Eva Glyn