{"product_id":"songs-from-this-and-that-gail-sidonie-sobat-9781773371412","title":"Songs from This and That Country","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIt is 1996: a mortar shell explodes, shredding nine Sarajevan citizens, while a Canadian opera singer and others huddle together in horrified solidarity;\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ethirty years earlier: a mother gives birth to a caul baby, a strange child who seems able to will events into being;\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eforty-five years earlier: a young man returns home from the Italian front and his hair has turned snow white;\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e600 years earlier: a young woman leaves her father, a despot under the Ottomans, to meet the witch Baba Roga from whom she learns that father and Turk are not so very different;\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eand back in 1996: a young opera singer, estranged from her parents, sings about all of this and contemplates killing her father.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSongs from This and That Country\u003c\/i\u003e is an inter-generational story that examines the reality of age-old ethnic conflicts between Serbs-Croats-Muslims, exposing these divisive and acrimonious relationships as recursive and mirrored in the lives of first- and second-generation families. As a blend of family drama, historical fact and fairy tale, Songs reflects a South Slavic immigrant experience, WWII infantry service in 1940s Italy, the Bosnian conflicts in the 1990s, and the rise of a second generation Serb-Canadian opera singer-all set in relief to a Slavic fairy tale in the time of the Ottoman Empire. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gail Sidonie Sobat\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 177337141X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781773371412\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Great Plains Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 382\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/06\/2026","brand":"Gail Sidonie Sobat","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48453910069503,"sku":"9781773371412","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c5169eaf-848d-4987-aa15-b33c2781633b.jpg?v=1777302979","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/songs-from-this-and-that-gail-sidonie-sobat-9781773371412","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}