2020 Readers' Favorite GOLD MEDAL WINNER
“A terrifying red train was speeding along the rails. That train, which passes by here daily, seemed so sinister to me now. For it was rushing toward me . . .”The life paths of two strangers, both of whom have decided to commit suicide by train, cross on the iron rails. They are looking for a way out of life's dilemmas and see no reason why they should continue living. Their lives are approaching the final station; they are waiting for the death train.These rails in Canada take the reader back to the past when the protagonists haven’t been born yet. The beautiful and stubborn Serbian woman, Adriana, comes to Mostar to write an article about the rights of Serbs being violated in the Balkan Peninsula. Her prejudiced views change when she gets to know Mostar and her good-natured and intelligent guide. Despite herself, Adriana, who was raised with hatred for the Bosnians, falls in love with a man from this “hostile” nation. Her fascinating life story reflects the struggle on the way to one’s deeper self, which unfolds against the background of love, selflessness, betrayal, and the horror of the Srebrenica massacre. Who will win in this struggle?This novel shows how deeply a human being can sink, what evil floats up when one gets into trouble, and also the spiritual peaks to which a human can ascend. On the one side, a terrible war, whose main victims are women and children. On the other, love, coming out victorious in the hardest trials. It might be easy to die for the sake of loved ones; to live for them, dying and being reborn every day for years—that is the toughest task of love.
