The Dubrovnik Book Club

This is a wonderful story. Every main character is trying to overcome a personal fear .... fear of illness, fear of being judged or ostracized, fear of an unknown future, fear of the brutal past, fear from surviving something horrible, fear of loss. The beauty of this book is that as each person opens up and faces their fear, they let others in and, in doing so, they are no longer alone and their fear subsides and their true personalities are able to flourish. Each person finds out more about each other and about themselves and their friendships grow and deepen. It's a wonderful book set in beautiful Croatia. The descriptions of the area and the food were as wonderful as the story!

This book takes us back to Dubrovnik, the city we first visited in The Collaborator’s Daughter, author Eva Glyn’s previous masterful novel. Dubrovnik is located in Croatia and was historically known as Ragusa. It’s a tourist destination in the Mediterranean, a seaport and a World Heritage Site because of its outstanding medieval architecture and fortified old town. It’s teeming with life and history. Glyn’s vivid descriptions allow us to once again visualize this beautiful, fascinating place and some of the beautiful, fascinating people in it. The Dubrovnik Book Club picks up about a dozen years after The Collaborator’s Daughter ends, with some of the same characters featured, but it’s a standalone novel, not really a show more sequel or the next in a series. In fact, I have to admit that I was a way in before I even realized I already knew some of these folks because Glyn did such an outstanding job of captivating me from the very beginning of the novel with this time and this group and this set of events.

Everyone is facing something difficult or disturbing or frustrating or tragic. Vedran’s girlfriend disappeared/drowned/came to harm? When foul play was initially suspected he was questioned but then cleared. Cleared by the judicial system, but not by the townsfolk. The popular opinion is that he “got away” with murder; he’s talked about, shunned, and has been asked to work from home until things calm down. He despairs of that ever happening and has a huge fear of a secret about his life with Didi ever being exposed.

Claire is spending a few months in Dubrovnik, away from her home in London, with her grandmother Fran and Fran’s husband Jadran (the main stars of The Collaborator’s Daughter). This isn’t meant to be a vacation; Clair had Long Covid and is now afraid to venture out, to mingle with people, to return to her old life. Fran’s goal is to help her get past those fears, starting with a job at The Welcoming Bookshop.

Luna and her flatmate Ezra left the small town they grew up in and moved to Dubrovnik – Ezra to pursue career dreams, Luna to escape. Escape the disapproval and restriction and rejection. Karmela is a professor on sabbatical, temporarily in Dubrovnik doing Ragusan research, which seems to be the only thing that brings her pleasure. She’s unfriendly, judgmental, an outsider – with a shameful secret. Rafael is a self-proclaimed hero of the Creation War of Independence, full of stories that don’t always have the ring of truth, and also often full of alcohol.

A variety of people with seemingly nothing in common and no reason to interact. But they do, either as members of the book club being led by Claire or through their connection to someone who is a member. In addition to the books and the conversations and the delicious food provided by Fran, they somehow become a unit: an investigative team trying to learn what really happened to Didi and clear Vedran’s name once and for all, and then take it upon themselves to try and find a way for the bookshop to remain open when increased rent or sale of the building threaten closure. The Dubrovnik Book Club is a history lesson, a mystery and a charming story of such very different people finding common ground, common purpose, and deep friendship. It’s exciting, informative, sad, hopeful.

The first thing I did after finishing The Collaborator’s Daughter was to make a note to myself: READ MORE EVA GLYN. Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers UK, One More Chapter for providing an advance copy of The Dubrovnik Book Club via NetGalley and allowing me to do just that. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it without hesitation. I have made another note to myself to KEEP READING EVA GLYN. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less

Claire, a UK native staying with family in Dubrovnik, has recovered from long Covid. Her experience with the disease has made her leery of mixing with people in public. She must overcome her fear as she has been hired as the temporary manager of the Welcoming Bookstore. There, she meets co worker Luna who is struggling with coming out in a somewhat non tolerant culture. Their weekly book club at the store includes Karmela, a visiting professor of history doing research. She tends to be a self isolate, an after effect of her experiences when her family fled Sarajevo at the start of the Yugoslav War. Claire also enlists her cousin, Vedran, to help with the club. Vedran is dealing with his own issues, having once been falsely accused of show more the murder of his girlfriend after she mysteriously disappeared and then the target of vicious social media postings.

Although there is a bit of, as Claire puts it, navel-gazing, the book is beautifully written and an endearing story. Written from the POVs of the four MCs, overlying all the storylines is the beauty that is Dubrovnik along with the pain, tragedy, loss of the War. It is about the bond of friendship and moving forward in life, no matter your adversities.

I have spent time in Dubrovnik; Glyn’s picturesque descriptions of the old city brought it back to life for me. I also appreciated the refresher on some of the background of the city, including its early history as the Republic of Ragusa as well as the Siege of Dubrovnik. It was enough information to be interesting but not weigh down the plot.

Although some of the characters are in an earlier book by Glyn, this is not part of a series.

Thanks to #Netgalley and @harpercollinsUK @onemorechapterHC for the ARC. show less

The Dubrovnik Book Club is a Harlequin romance-type book that's still an enjoyable read (even more so if you like romance novels). The old buildings and history of Dubrovnik come to vivid life, and I almost felt as though I were walking its streets along with the characters.

The Welcoming Bookshop lives up to its name, truly welcoming all to its door. The books the club members choose to read highlight inclusiveness and show how each of the characters grows.

I found all four main characters interesting. Each one of them feels that they have good reasons to hide away from others. Luna, a young, bubbly lesbian, is nervous about coming out because she's from a very restrictive and traditional family. Claire, an Englishwoman who used to show more work in London's Foyles Bookshop, has to overcome her fear of a recurrence of Covid. Claire's cousin, Vedran, has been pilloried by social media after his girlfriend disappeared, and it's this disappearance that fuels the mystery that the book club members work to solve. Karmela has felt like an outsider ever since her parents took her out of Sarajevo before the city was torn apart by war. She feels that there is some sort of shame in her escape, especially since it took her away from her dearest friends. Each one of these characters fights his or her demons with the help of the other book club members.

Each character's story is interesting, and I liked the solution to the mystery of the woman's disappearance. But, most of all, I enjoyed spending time in Dubrovnik, and I appreciated the Croatian glossary at the back of the book. If you're in the mood for a light, pleasant read in an exotic location, The Dubrovnik Book Club would be a good choice.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less