Review by Hilary
The author clearly knows the city well, as she leads the reader through the streets, squares and alleys of Dubrovnik, to Knjižara Svih Nacija, the bookshop where all are welcome. This certainly makes the existence of the shop seem realistic.
At the shop, Claire has taken up a post as temporary manager, after recovering from long covid. Understandably, she’s nervous about contact with customers, so it comes as a frightening shock to discover that Luna, her diminutive shop assistant, has proposed a book club, meeting in the cramped quarters of the shop. Not wanting to dent Luna’s enthusiasm and initiative, and knowing she must start to face her fears Claire goes ahead with the book club. The first meeting is well attended, including by her grandmother, Fran, and, reluctantly, by her cousin, Vedran. He is a shell of the man Claire knew previously, since his girlfriend disappeared whilst swimming and he’s been suspected of her murder. Inspired by the book of the month, Claire and Luna decide to investigate.
Luna herself has a secret she is frightened to reveal, coming, as she does, from the very conservative island of Suđurađ but Claire fights her fears of covid to help, whilst Karmela is an academic from Zagreb doing research in the city and intrigued by glimpses of the architecture of the bookshop. She is haunted by the Yugoslav Wars, feeling out of place everywhere, as her family were refugees in Berlin and isolated from the events of the war themselves.
Although each of the seven sections of the book is headed by the chosen title of that month, the plot is centred less on the book club and more on the experiences and journeys of the four main characters. Only in a few instances does the reader learn anything about the members’ reactions to the books, which the author lists at the back of the book. Thus, the book club setting is merely being used as a vehicle for the stories of those characters. I found that rather disappointing. The book shop itself does better, becoming an important part of the later plot. Also, a lot of the scenes are set in the back room of the shop or the courtyard behind, where wine is drunk and Fran’s excellent Croatian delicacies eaten – the glossary of Croatian words at the front of the book is very useful.
The end of the book ties almost everything up neatly. You could say, too neatly! Despite the author’s excellent descriptions of the city and the landscape around Dubrovnik, it all becomes a bit twee with happy endings for each of the characters. The Dubrovnik Book Club is an easy book to read, but not one that will stay with me.