"The ghosts of conflict and finding fresh hope through unexpected homecomings — this remarkable novel unlocks the legacies of war in moving, memorable, soul-stirring style."
What an absolutely beautiful novel. Arresting and lyrical, and exuding folkloric power, Joanne Rush’s Dancing on Knives explores the dark, long-lingering legacies of war through a young Bosnian refugee who confronts the ghosts of her past when her husband’s work takes them to Serbia.
Bosnian refugee Laura is working as an assistant librarian in a Cambridge University library when she first encounters Ivan Tabak, a Bosnian poet whose work speaks of Bosnian water spirits — vilas. At the same time, she meets Adam, a British diplomat whom she falls in love with and marries, and whose work searching for war criminal Ratko Mladic sees them move to Serbia, the country that invaded her own.
With Adam frequently working away, often out of contact and always unable to speak of his work, Laura is alone with her thoughts. “What does it mean to carry trauma?” she wonders. “Trauma is a heavy part of your own self. It’s the weight you bear after an unbearable event".
In this context, Laura interacts with ghosts that appear in her flat. Aware they’re not real, she cooks and eats with them. She talks to them: “Soon it felt like I was running a guest house, or ghost house: a bed and breakfast for Bosnian spooks”.
In time, though much of her life falls away, Laura comes to a sense of homecoming and rebuilds herself in a most wondrous way. As Rush states in her Author’s Notes, “the legacy of conflict is for life. My book acknowledges that. But it also explores how a community might be rebuilt…Stories cannot undo the past, but they may bring hope”. Dancing on Knives does an utterly brilliant job of revealing the painful, complex aftermath of conflict — and hope — with a beautiful denouement and ever-present sense of the water spirits, and their links to migrant water birds that always come home.
A twisty, timely tale of secrets and betrayal, recalling the turbulent history of Eastern Europe
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
A twisty, timely tale of secrets and betrayal, recalling the turbulent history of Eastern Europe Laura, a brilliant young Bosnian refugee, must confront her harrowing past when she falls in love with British diplomat Adam, whose job takes them to Serbia – the country that once invaded her own. With Adam preoccupied in his pursuit of war criminal General Ratko Mladi?, Laura is troubled by familiar ghostly figures whose reminiscences about the city she once fled hold a dangerous allure.
Dancing on Knives features in the following genres: Star Books, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror and Supernatural Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Fiction
Paperback. £8.99, down from the £9.99 cover price. In Stock.
Dancing on Knives was written by Joanne Rush and published by Honno Welsh Women's Press
Dancing on Knives has 294 pages
£8.99, reduced from £9.99. In Stock.
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