“Bastašić’s EU Prize–winning debut follows a Yugoslav-born woman’s stunning Alice in Wonderland–style journey through Bosnia after returning home….

LikeElena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, Catch the Rabbit lays bare the intricacies of female friendship and all the ways in which two people can hurt, love, disappoint, and misunderstand one another. Lejla’s conflicting memories of their past, further complicated by the divisions brought on by the dissolution of Yugoslavia during their childhoods, forces Sara to reckon with her own perceived reality. As they approach their final destination, Sara contends with the chaos of their relationship. Embarking on a road trip from Bosnia to Vienna in search of Lejla’s exiled brother Armin, the two travel down the rabbit hole of their shared past and question how they’ve arrived at their present, disparate realities.Īs their journey takes them further from their homeland, Sara realizes that she can never truly escape her past or Lejla-the two are intrinsically linked, but perpetually on opposite sides of the looking glass. Lejla’s magnetic pull hasn’t lessened despite the distance between Dublin and Bosnia or the years of silence imposed by a youthful misunderstanding, and Sara finds herself returning home, driven by curiosity and guilt. Translated into English by author Lana Bastašic, Catch the Rabbit tells the story of how we place the ones we love on pedestals, and then wait for them to fall off, how loss marks us indelibly, and how the traumas of war echo down the years.It’s been twelve years since inseparable childhood friends Lejla and Sara have spoken, but an unexpected phone call thrusts Sara back into a world she left behind, a language she’s buried, and painful memories that rise unbidden to the surface. Presumed dead by everyone else, only Lejla and Sara believed Armin was still alive.Ĭonfronted 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.

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

smart, energetic, passionate, announcing a major talent.’ - Aleksandar Hemon

‘Two young women plunging into post-war Bosnia like two Alices into Wonderland.

Catch the rabbit lana bastasic