In a Nutshell:

This is a book about the life of Catherine. Split into two sections: Catherine the Small is about her childhood and youth growing up in Montenegro and then studying/living in Belgrade, Serbia. The second half, entitled Catherine the Great is about her time as a mother and wife. The novel takes us through turbulent times in the Balkan region, from the eighties to the present day.

Published by Istro Books, this book was the 2019 recipient of the VBZ Literary award for best novel written in Croatian, Montenegrian, Serbian or Bosnian language.

Themes:

Love, identity, growing up in the twilight of communism, societal and gendered expectations.

An Observation:

Montenegro only became an independent country in 2006.

A Quote:

“That’s when I finally got it − women don’t like other ambitious women. What a shame. Men admire ambitious men, so ambitious men can freely puff themselves up, they can grow. But not us. That’s when I realized the need for women to admire each other and egg each other on. Standing before our co-workers, we women belittle ourselves; disguise our ambition as a fight for basic survival, whose goal is simply to get through life, nothing more spectacular than that.”

Book Details:

Publisher: Istros Books

Publishing Date: 20.06.2020

Author: Olja Knežević

Born in Podgorica, Montenegro, Olja Knežević has a BA in English language and literature from the University of Belgrade and an MA in creative writing from Birkbeck College in London. She lived in London for ten years before moving to Zagreb, Croatia, where she currently lives with her family.

Translators: Paula Gordon and Ellen Elias-Bursać

Paula Gordon’s translations of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian authors have been published in print and online, and she has translated dialogue for fiction and documentary films.
Before becoming a translator, Paula worked in experimental theatre and dance. In the 1990s she worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina with humanitarian aid and arts organizations; she was on the production team of the Sarajevo Film Festival from 1998 until 2001.
Paula has a blog: https://dbaplanb.wordpress.com/the-latest/literary/.

Ellen Elias-Bursac has been translating novels and non-fiction by Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian writers for thirty years. She is past president of the American Literary Translators Association. Ellen has taught at various universities including the Harvard Slavic Department, and spent over six years at the ex-Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague as a translator/reviser in the English Translation Unit.

A bit about me!

A bit about me, my name is Jess Andoh-Thayre. I am from Brixton, South London. I currently live in Cambodia. Before living here in Cambodia, I lived in Tanzania with my husband, who is a diplomat. I have also lived in Chile and Spain. I am a French, Spanish and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher. I recently qualified as a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator). After taking three years off to have a baby in a pandemic and also retrain, I have just returned to work as an Elementary Learning Support Teacher.