Set in Split in 1992. The war in Croatia is in full swing. Split resembles Saigon, a city in which life is apparently normal, but part of that normality is also made up of detonations heard from behind the horizon, refugees, and soldiers on leave.
One night, a group of soldiers decides to avenge the killed commander and plants explosive to the house owned by a Serb butcher. The proprietor is killed, but the event is, contrary to plan, witnessed by his daughter.
Krešo is a war veteran who has lost his leg, bitter and disappointed. Galjer is an old journalist of crime section whose wife has just been diagnosed for cancer. Matić is a successful doctor with political ambitions. Lidija is a research journalist who believes the newspapers to be able to put things right.
The destinies of these four people will intertwine with that of a little girl hidden in a tyre-​repair garage, waiting to be either set free or killed.
Split Confidential… Ovce od gipsa is defiÂniÂtely one of the most imporÂtant CroÂatian books of the nineties…
Robert Perišić, Feral Tribune
His story is clever, powerÂful, nauseÂating and, much to our dismay, so very Croatian!
Dunja Dragojević, Radio 101
A social analysis sharp as a knife… I take my hat off to you, colleague!
Michael Zeller, Nuernberger Nachrichten
Crime and puniÂshÂment, spiÂriÂtual wasÂteÂland and a glimÂmer of hope – a crime masÂterÂpiÂece from Croatia!
Facts, Switzerland
While the claÂssic hero of the CroÂatian miliÂtary stoÂries repreÂsents a feeble subject with whom the narÂraÂtor wants to share his helÂpleÂssÂness, Pavičić…is trying to observe the warÂrior audaÂcity of his own geneÂraÂtion, as well as to take resÂponÂsiÂbiÂlity for the unpleÂasant dream folÂlowing the battle.
Vlaho Bogišić, Vijenac
Ovce od gipsa posseÂsses all the makings of a good thriller.
Jagna Pogačnik, Vjesnik
It takes someÂone with a ’streak’ to be able to carry such a heavy social and psycÂhoÂloÂgiÂcal burden to its desÂtiÂnaÂtion in such a light thrilÂler shell.
Strahimir Primorac, Večernji list
The finale, a morÂning epiÂsode taking place in a sky-​high city rubÂbish dump is indeed masÂterÂful in every respect!… Juirca Pavičić repreÂsents the most inteÂresÂting spot within the conÂtext of CroÂatian ficÂtion writÂten by the autÂhors who sought acclaim in the (post)-war nineties.
Delimir Rešicki, Glas Slavonije
Novel on hatred, rage, shame, guilt and repent- which refuses to be absolutly bleak, and spreads a bit of hope. It's worth reading.
gunnar walters (Kaliber 17)
In the novel, the author aims to describe what war does to the people and what are people, blinded by difused anger and selfserving hate, capable to do. The way how author stages the consequences of rabid nationalism seems as a hidden premonition, in a contemporary Europe.
Thomas Lawall, Lovelybooks, querblatt
