Singer in the Night

Famous soap opera scriptwriter, Naranča, is slowly losing her memory and decides to embark on a road trip down memory lane (in a golden convertible) in search of her greatest love and ex-husband, an artist whose uncompromising artistic integrity is opposed to Naranča's fickle life in the world of TV drama. It is the memory of a series of letters written over several weeks and hand-delivered to the inhabitants of the street where they lived, that cracks open the novel. The letters, triggered by a mysterious couple who make love loudly for hours in the middle of the night, keeping the neighbourhood awake, touch upon the nature of love, war, lust, nationalism, capitalism, and childhood, highlighting the paradox of the human condition through playful humour.

Singer in the Night is a rich, sensual novel which comments on communal perception, on how life is really lived. In its final message, the novel gives a playful warning about the consequences of choosing banality over true human connection.



Olja Savičević is one of the best Croatian contemporary authors and a representative of the so-called 'lost generation'. Politically and socially engaged, Olja's work has been included in a number of Croatian anthologies and international selections. Her writing has been translated into over fifteen languages.