Novel Chronicles Lives After Bosnian War

April 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Twenty years ago, in April of 1992, the longest running siege in modern history began in Sarajevo.  Following the collapse of Yugoslavia, Bosnia declared  independence and Sarajevo, long known as a place where people of varied faiths and ethnic groups could co-exist descended into conflict. City residents took cover as Serb gunners in the hills above, barraged inhabitants day and night. Once the shelling ended forty-four months later, over eleven thousand citizens were dead, many of them Sarajevo’s children. Despite attempts at restoration but many of the city’s residents have fled, never to return.

When the 1995 peace agreement was brokered by the United States, shooting ended but the country remained divided ethnically with Serbs on one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other. While many of Sarajevo’s citizens fled to other European cities, some Bosnians found their way to the United States. Displaced by the civil war that prevented them from safely returning to their homeland, many were able to apply for refugee status

Just such a family forms the basis for a new novel, Edge of a Dream written  by Philadelphia author, Lee Fishman. When asked why she chose to write about a displaced family from Sarajevo, Fishman says, “As a student, I visited Sarajevo and other destinations in what was once known as Yugoslavia, After the war began, it was devastating to see the destruction of so many beautiful and historic landmarks being bombed to rubble. Researching the conflict and writing about it provided a way to understand the situation as a whole.””  

Years spent as a career coach provided Fishman with first-hand knowledge of what newcomers experience when they arrive in our country. She learned never to underestimate the obstacles that many immigrants must overcome in adapting to our way of life.  Says Fishman, “The process of writing about a young immigrant couple was transforming. It gave me a new appreciation of how difficult it can be to start life in a new country. Getting here is only the beginning.”

Fishman’s novel, Edge of a Dream is published by the TransMedia Publishing Group and is available as an e-book at Amazon.com. For more information on the book and the author, contact Alina Schmidt at 215.435.4762.