One of essential books in Bosnian, Balkan or Slavic literature...Ahmed Shabo returns home to 18th century Sarajevo from the war in Russia. Numbered by the deaths in battle or by suicide of nearly his entire military unit, he is devastated to learn that most of his family has died of disease during his absence. Through the help of a friend and the love of a woman Ahmed overcomes the psychological anguish of war only to find that he as emerged a reflective and contemplative man in a society that does not value and often will not tolerate the subversive implications of these qualities. Some remarks Ahmed makes at a party - about human decency and fairness and the tendency of the powerful to trample over them - lead him into the dark labyrinth of the novel's plot, in which his encounters with love and violence, intrigue, tyranny and intellectual adventure continuosly reshape his destiny and his sense of the meaning of his life. (excerpt from back of book)
