From the heart of the Bosnian tragedy, a story of pain, hope, and the struggle between survival and departure.

The novel Black Butterflies presents the events of the first year of the siege of Sarajevo from the perspective of the artist Zora Koçović, who narrates the pain, terror, shock, hunger, and cold she and the rest of the besieged people faced and suffered. However, at the same time, it highlights the few moments of happiness that reveal themselves in the midst of the torrent of tragedies that accompany war. It is an inspiring novel about the power of art, love, and hope, and about the steadfastness of the will to live in the face of the barbaric attacks that an ancient city with multiple ethnicities, religions, and cultures was subjected to.

In Black Butterflies we learn about the history of a city, the culture of a people, the ugliness of war and the sublimity of...