In Late Summer
2026 Shortlist

In Late Summer

Translated from the Croatian
artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

In Late Summer is written from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl killed in the August 1993 massacre in Bosnia. When a picturesque village is caught in the turmoil of war, the entire worlds of girls Ivana and Dunja and their families is blown up and swept away.

Based on a personal experience, Magdalena Blažević‘s novel is poetic and powerful, full of images of ordinary country life as well as the brutality of war. This is a haunting portrait of a family and a village, each affected differently by the daily realities of civil war. Blažević weaves emotion under the surface of her precise prose.

Original title in Croatian U kasno ljeto, published by Fraktura (2022)

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Magdalena
Blažević

Magdalena Blažević, born in Žepče in 1982, is a writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her short stories have been translated into several languages, and awarded numerous prizes. IN LATE SUMMER, Winner of the 2022/2023 Tportal Award for Best Croatian Novel, is her debut novel.

Magdalena Blažević, born in Žepče in 1982, is a writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her short stories have been translated into several languages, and awarded numerous prizes. IN LATE SUMMER, Winner of the 2022/2023 Tportal Award for Best Croatian Novel, is her debut novel.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Anđelka
Raguž

Anđelka Raguž migrated to Australia with her parents from Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 60s and returned in 1990. She has been teaching English Literature at the University of Mostar for the past twenty years.

Anđelka Raguž migrated to Australia with her parents from Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 60s and returned in 1990. She has been teaching English Literature at the University of Mostar for the past twenty years.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Magdalena Blažević tells the story of a massacre in the Bosnian war from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl who is killed in this massacre. A poetic and literarily innovative novel about a war that still has repercussions today. Blažević, who recently read in Bern, is undoubtedly one of the most important voices in Southeast European literature. (University Library of Bern)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
15/04/2025
Country
Bosnia, Croatia
Original Language
Croatian
Publisher
Linden Editions
Translator
Anđelka Raguž
Translation
Translated from the Croatian
Borrow this book from Libraries Ireland

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