Dancing on Knives

“Memory, trauma, romance – and ghosts. Joanne Rush serves up a bewitching British-Balkan brew.” Nicholas Royle, Saxophone Dreams

Laura, a Bosnian war survivor and Cambridge University librarian, has long tried to forget the horrors of her past. But when she and her husband Adam move to Serbia, disturbing memories start to emerge. Adam’s work as a British diplomat takes him on a mission to capture war criminal General Ratko Mladić, leaving Laura isolated in the very country that invaded her own.

As the spirits of those murdered in the conflict resurface, Laura finds herself running a guest house for ghosts. They cook, laugh, drink, play cards and share folktales of Bosnian water spirits, reminding Laura of the home she once lost. But when they develop a vengeful interest in the manhunt for Mladić, Laura must decide: are her guests a sign that she is unravelling, or can they help her confront the past she has fled for so long?