What We Leave Behind: Lana Bastašic and Maureen Freely

When your nation is marred by war or legacies of conflict, ties to home become knotted and complex. The heroes of Lana Bastašic’s novel Catch the Rabbit and Maureen Freely’s novel My Blue Peninsula, are both grappling with ideas of home: what it means to leave and what it means to stay.

In Catch the Rabbit, Sara returns home to Bosnia and embarks upon a road trip with her childhood best friend, a journey through her own past and the history of her homeland. Written in Serbian-Croatian, Lana translated the novel into English herself. In My Blue Peninsula, Dora attempts to explain to her daughters why she refuses to leave her home in Istanbul, despite the danger it poses. Through seven notebooks, she attempts to untangle historic and familial legacies of loss and betrayal.

Chaired by Dr Sandra van Lente.