Extract from The Collaborator’s Daughter by Eva Glyn

Delighted to feature an extract from The Collaborator’s Daughter by Eva Glyn which will be published by One More Chapter on 1^st April 2023. I am half way through an advanced copy of this book and totally captivated. Highly recommended!

About The Collaborator’s Daughter

In 1944 in war-torn Dubrovnik Branko Milisic holds his newborn daughter Safranka and wishes her a better future. But while the Nazis are finally retreating, the arrival of the partisans brings new dangers for Branko, his wife Dragica and their baby…

As older sister to two half-siblings, Fran has always known she has to fit in. But now, at sixty-five years old and finally free of caring responsibilities, for the first time in her life Fran is facing questions about who she is and where she comes from.

All Fran knows about her real father is that he was a hero, and her mother had to flee Dubrovnik after the war. But when she travels to the city of her birth to uncover the truth, she is devastated to discover her father was executed by the partisans in 1944, accused of being a collaborator. But the past isn’t always what it seems… And neither is the future.

Extract:

We join Fran the first time she steps outside the apartment she’s rented in Dubrovnik’s old town to explore:

By half past four it had stopped raining and although a day of getting on with solid tasks had made Fran feel better, she was absolutely desperate to get out of the apartment and at least clap eyes on another human being. The slit of sky she could see between the buildings looked ominously grey, so she put on her waterproof and set off down the deserted street, the paving beneath her feet glistening and a little slippery in places.

The apartment was tucked into what was little more than a narrow alley that climbed towards the most inland tower in the walls surrounding the old town. Mostly it was made up of flights of steps cut from dark grey stone, contrasting with the creamy walls of the houses crammed together on either side. On almost every ledge and doorstep were pots filled with a variety of leafy green plants, some with delicate pink flowers, their heads too small to have been bowed by the rain.

Further down the hill, just before the main street, Stradun, the path levelled out and there was a small café. A waiter was working under its awning, wiping down the tables and chairs that all but filled the narrow street, bending his long skinny frame to clean the water from their metal legs.

He turned and looked at Fran, shaking a mop of brown hair out of his eyes. “Dobar dan.”

“Dobar dan.”

He switched into English, but she wasn’t surprised her foreign accent was so obvious. “You would like a coffee maybe? Or some wine?” He consulted his watch. “It isn’t too early for wine. Not when it is so wet it is almost dark outside.”

It hadn’t been part of her plan, but Fran was delighted at the prospect of someone to talk to, even if only to order a drink and pass the time of day. She started to pull out a chair but he shook his head. 

“No. Inside. I am sure it will rain again so I have not put the cushions.”

The interior of the café was dark but cosy, the unplastered stone walls and timbered ceiling the same as in her apartment. In one corner was the bar, its wood blackened with age and covered in heavy carvings that at home would have screamed Victorian. A red velveteen upholstered bench ran along the wall beside it, and it was at a small table here that the waiter gestured Fran to sit.

“I can clean the glasses while we talk. Now, would you like red wine or white? Or maybe even the local rakija?”

After the day she’d had, Fran didn’t need too much tempting, although she decided it was best to keep off the strong stuff. “A glass of red, please.”

The Collaborator’s Daughter is published by One More Chapter on 1^st April 2023 and can be pre-ordered at the retailer of your choice through their website:
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-collaborators-daughter-eva-glyn

About Eva Glyn:

Eva Glyn writes escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. She loves to travel and finds inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide.

Her last holiday before lockdown was a trip to Croatia, and the country’s haunting histories and gorgeous scenery have proved fertile ground, driven by her friendship with a tour guide she met there. His wartime story provided the inspiration for The Olive Grove and his help in creating a realistic portrayal of Croatian life has proved invaluable. Her second novel set in the country, An Island of Secrets is a dual timeline looking back to World War 2, and although a contemporary romance featuring mature main characters her third, The Collaborator’s Daughter, has its roots in that conflict too.

Eva lives in Cornwall, although she considers herself Welsh, and has been lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for more than twenty-five years. She also writes as Jane Cable.

Social Media Links – 

Instagram @evaglynauthor

Twitter @JaneCable

BookBub @EvaGlyn

Facebook Eva Glyn, Author

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