New Fiction, Balkan History & Russian Emigres

Here are three books that The Economist recently reviewed and I thought they were worth passing along.

Afterwards by Rachel Seiffert

Alice is the protagonist of Afterwards, but this book is about the guilt harboured by people around her. There are two men in her life: her maternal grandfather, David, recently widowed, and her boyfriend, Joseph, each of whom keeps his past from his loved ones. David served in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion; Joseph, during a stint in the British army, served in Northern Ireland. Both, we learn, live with the memory of having killed in the line of duty.

Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro by Elizabeth Roberts

Comparatively little is well known about Europe's newest and one of its smallest independent states: the small mountain fastness Montenegro. In a book written for specialists and general readers alike, Elizabeth Roberts traces its history from pre-Slavic times, including its part in the 1389 battle of Kosovo and its prominent role in resisting the Ottomans. She recounts Montenegro's development under its Prince-Bishops toward the independence achieved at the Congress of Berlin and lost after the Versailles Conference when the Podgorica Assembly voted to join the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Red Princess by Sofka Zinovieff Biography
Sofka Zinovieff's grandmother was a White Russian aristocrat in flight from the political upheavals of the 20th century. Like many exiles for whom tomorrow is a hostile land, the eponymous Red Princess - also known as Sofka - lived life with the gusto of the desperado. Her biography, as a result, is a union of comedy and tragedy infused with the heady romance of a vanished Russia.