A very unusual and delightful book. Natalia embarks on a journey which she hopes will explain the unusual nature of her grandfather's death. The story is interwoven with wonderful folk tales.

If not picked up at the meet-up will probably take to the book box at Shade of pale on Magdelen street.

Picked up at the Norwich meetup this morning. Looks different and interesting.

I think this will bring my "tiger phase" to an end (having recently finished The Life of Pi). What a weird book this was-wondered if I was going to make it to the end at times. Some of it I really liked but other bits were too horrific for me even to read. I felt there was an interesting story to be told but it twisted and turned about too much for my liking. I wanted to know more about the work the young doctors were doing with the orphans but instead was subjected to wife-bashing, capital punishment and exhumation of a long-buried body, to name but a few subjects.
I found the "deathless man" a very interesting character and I'm sure he must have been related to one of the characters in the Book Thief. In many ways I was glad to get to the end of the book but still found some questions unanswered. I don't think I will be looking for more books by this author.

Will release soon.

This book will be off to Edinburgh care of Royal Mail on Friday, sending to Teapot after finding it on her wishlist-enjoy.

To the finder:-
Welcome to bookcrossing -you have found a travelling book. Please make a journal entry now to say where you found the book in case it has been moved. Then, when you have read it, please come back and make a further entry saying whether or not you enjoyed the book and why. It is now yours to do as you like with it, pass it to a friend or just leave it somewhere different for someone else to find and help it with its' journey. Of course if you can't bear to part with it at the moment then keep it, but please let me know that you have found it. If you join bookcrossing, which is free and spam-free, you can follow the book on its' travels as you will get an email each time it changes hands, but if you prefer to remain anonymous, that's fine too. Please also say what you intend to do with the book next. Thanks for coming onto the site to let me know you have found the book.

I already have books travelling in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, the USA, Madeira, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Turkey, the Canary Islands, Holland, France, the Channel Islands, Wales, Scotland and all over England.

Received in the post yesterday. Thank you daffodil-2!

I agree with daffodil-2 that this book left too many questions unanswered. None of the (many) stories had a real resolution, and the main mystery behind the grandfather's death still remains unsolved.

Also, I don't think I know the answer to any of the questions raised by the reader's group discussion at the back. Perhaps if I knew more about the history and culture of the FYR I would understand the symbolism better. Life in wartime Yugoslavia wasn't described particularly well either, most of what is offered is the life of rebellious teenagers who do whatever they like citing 'there's a war on, you know' whenever anyone tries to discipline them.

I struggled with the story within the story within the story as well, and I kept having to think about how each narrative relates to the others and where it fits in timewise. I didn't think it was necessary to give so much backstory to insignificant characters who didn't influence the plot (Darisa, the apothecary, blind Orlo), especially the ones introduced towards the very end of the book.

Despite that, the book was well written and evocative, enjoyable to read and lends itself to a variety of interpretations, though I personally don't see why it won a prize for fiction.

Sending it to Finland tomorrow for someone who has it on their wishlist. Hope you enjoy!

Lovely, thank you very much!

Off to the winner of the Export an animal sweepstakes. Enjoy!

Thanks for this book ; I'm very enjoy to be the winner of this game ; I 'm really very spoiled by all the participants ; thank you very mutch to all you.