Why a Booktrail?
1992: Two young sisters are separated by war
Goodbye Sarajevo
What you need to know before your trail
Hana is twelve years old when her older sister Atka puts her on a UN evacuation bus fleeing the besieged city of Sarajevo. Thinking they will be apart for a short time, they make a promise to each other to be brave. But as the Bosnian war escalates and months go by without contact, their promise becomes deeply significant.
Hana is forced to cope as a refugee in Croatia, while Atka and their younger siblings battle for survival in a city overwhelmed by crime and destruction. Then, when Atka manages to find work as a translator, events take an unexpected turn, and the remarkable events that follow change her life, and those of her family, forever.
Travel Guide
Sarajevo – map from the book
Sarajevo
In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. After a ten day conflict, Slovenia broke away successfully. However the Serbs living in Croatia resisted Independence. With the help of the heavily armed Serb dominated Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), the Serbs overran parts of Croatia, and the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ entered the modern lexicon. The war in Croatia was still raging in when in April 1992, following a national referendum, Bosnia and Herzegovina also declared independence from Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serbs attacked their Muslim and Croat countrymen, overrunning large swatches of the country with the help of the JNA. Armed with heavy artillery and tanks, the Serbs and the JNA surrounded Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, enforcing one of the longest and bloodiest sieges in modern history.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Goodbye Sarajevo
Destination : Sarajevo Author/Guide: Atka Reid Departure Time: 1992
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