Café Wars
Award winning novel
Café Wars is set in
the cities of Trieste in Italy and Ljubljana in the neighboring republic
of Slovenia. It examines the experiences of a group of artists and their friends in
the early 1990s, during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Situated as they are on
the border, some Triestines have historical and family connections in the
region to the east, and as the reverberations from the conflict reach into the
cafés and studios of the city, daily life is inevitably overshadowed.
Artist Max Kravos is in love with the flamboyant and enigmatic Silvana,
a woman of the Istrian diaspora, and is preparing a joint exhibition with her
in Slovenia. Lorena, his partner - independent and ambitious,
is seduced by the promise of big money to enter into dubious dealings
with black marketeers. Nicky, a young New Zealander, gradually becomes
drawn into their lives, shedding some innocence in the process.
Published 2005 by Tara Publishing, New Zealand. ISBN 0-476-01606-1
Buy Café Wars here.
First prize for fiction: IX International Literary Award Trieste Scritture di Frontiera 2006