Catch the Rabbit

Translated from the Serbo-Croatian by Lana Bastašić

2022 Longlist

Sara hasn’t seen or heard from her childhood best-friend, Lejla, in years. She’s comfortable with her life in Dublin, with her partner, their avocado plant, and their naturist neighbour. But when Lejla calls and demands she come home to Bosnia, Sara finds that she can’t say no.

What begins as a road trip becomes a journey through the past, as the two women set off to find Armin, Lejla’s brother who disappeared towards the end of the Bosnian War.  Presumed dead by everyone else, only Lejla and Sara believed Armin was still alive.

Confronted with the limits of memory, Sara is forced to reconsider the things she thought she understood as a girl: the best friend she loved, the first experiences they shared, but also the social and religious lines that separated them, that brought them such different lives.

About the Author/Translator

Lana Bastašić is a Yugoslav born writer and translator who lives and works in Belgrade. She has published two collections of short stories and one of poetry. Catch the Rabbit, her first novel, was published in 2018 in Belgrade and was shortlisted for the NIN Award. Her short stories have been included in major regional anthologies and have won numerous awards throughout the former Yugoslavia. She was awarded the European Prize for Literature for Catch the Rabbit in 2020.

Librarian’s Comments

A multilayered literary road trip of two unequal friends from Mostar to Vienna. This moving and dark page turner is often compared to “The Neapolitan Novels” by Elena Ferrante, not only because of the topic of deep friendship between two women, but also because of the novel’s quality. University Library of Bern, Switzerland