Slanting Towards the Sea

While we were together, Vlaho and I joked that we had more anniversaries than Croatia had islands.

Ivona and Vlaho meet as students at theturn of the millennium in Zagreb. Everything smells of freedom and possibility. Red Hot Chili Peppers are pumping through the speakers of a bar in the city centre and cheap beer is overflowing; newly democratic Croatia is alive with hope and promise. They fall in love instantly.

A decade later, Ivona has returned to her childhood home in Zadar to look after her ailing father. She and Vlaho are divorced, yet she finds herself welcomed into his family life by him and his wife. But when a new man enters Ivona’s life, the trio’s carefully curated dynamic is disturbed, forcing a reckoning for all involved.

Slanting Towards the Sea explores what it means to come of age in a country younger than oneself, as it sets a sensual, decades-long love story against the wild beauty of an emerging Croatia. From the cobbled alleyways of Cavtat, a small town near Dubrovnik, to the rugged, glimmering coastline of Zadar, and the bustling streets of Zagreb in the early 2000s, this is a story of longing, buried resentment and claiming a life of your own.

‘Poignant and evocative, exploring first love with an intensity so raw that reading feels like pressing on a bruise.’ Spectator

‘With illuminating prose and gripping storytelling, Lidija Hilje attains her place as an exciting new voice in world literature. Slanting Towards the Sea is a love letter to Croatia and to anyone who dares to dream.’ Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

‘Oh, what a beautiful book this is – deeply felt, humane, gorgeously written. Hilje’s prose is positively hypnotic – I sunk in and didn’t want to come up for air.’ Claire Lombardo

‘Hilje weaves the story of three enmeshed souls whose longing is only eclipsed by the stunning grace they offer one another. Artful, intensely moving, and unforgettable in every way.’ Thao Thai

‘One of the most moving and evocative debuts I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time. Hilje’s prose is mesmerising – each sentence has a tidal pull.’ Madelaine Lucas

‘Thoughtful, compelling, and refreshing in its clear-eyed, assured style – this is a profound and deeply moving debut.’ Kimberly King Parsons