Hana lives a quiet life in Minnesota and likes it that way.

Yet when she becomes aware that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows her past has come to pay an unwanted visit.

Thirty years ago, Hana was someone completely different. She was a teenager growing up in war-torn Bosnia, and her name was Nura Divjak. When her entire family was murdered before her eyes, Nura was thrown into a war she did not want, and a side of her emerged in ways no one could foresee.
Now her past is coming, and the only way to survive is to bring Nura back. No matter what the cost.

A long-time fan of Allen’s books, I was excited to get my hands on this book and purchased it this past May at the Words by the Water author event I helped the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library with.
Of course, as it often happens, the book went to my TBR stack and hung out there until this past month when the Bookies Book Club chose it for their November read. I have to say, I am glad I waited – reading this with a group of 17 ladies made for a much richer experience.

Admittedly, for myself, it was a heavier read than I was planning on. I’m used to a different style from Author Allen Eskens, and at first, I personally struggled engaging with the book. Let’s just say – Bookies to the rescue. After talking with a few of our members over the past few weeks and hearing things such as “I can’t put it down,” “I can’t wait to get back to it!_, “Usually when a book goes back and forth, I like one storyline better than the other, but in this case – I love both!”, as well as “The book is making me think of my own life and where I was at in the early to mid 1990’s and how different my life was…” And a personal favorite comment,
“This is why I joined this book club. To read books like this that I would have never picked up on my own.”

Last night (November 11th, 2025), 15 of us sat in the front room of my house to enjoy a glass or two of wine, delicious food ( we had both Sarma ( a Bosnian dish of cabbage leaves stuffed with beef and spices in a tomato sauce) and Burek ( Hana’s favorite dish – a dough filled patry with beef, potato, onion and spices) as well as so mnay other delicious dishes. The Burek was my attempt, and while it says to roll it in a pastry in a tube shape and then roll up, my dough did not bend well, so tube Burek it was 🙂

Overall – great discussion – very high ratings from the group – on a scale of 1 to 5, the average rating out of the 15 present was 4.75. A crazy high overall rating, and it honestly speaks volumes of positivity about this book. It’s nice to have an engaging read that is not necessarily the easiest, but is definitely a book to consider.
And yes, eventually, I too fell into the rhythm of the read and ended with a personal rating of a 3.75… it was very different than what I was expecting and took me a bit to get into (busy time of year for me too, and I know that contributes) – I am glad I read it.

Rated: 3.75 out of 5
Read Author Before: Yes, and I recommend!
Read Author Again: Yes
Book Club Worthy: Yes! This is an excellent discussion book. Most of us were alive during the Bosnia war ( I was a young mom at the time) – it hits a little different when it is during your lifetime and you can recall where you were during that period of your life, as well as admittedly how little ( we anyway) knew about this war or how little we followed it.

Like Eskens? Be sure to check out The Life We Bury