Black Butterflies

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2023 This extraordinarily affecting debut novel captures life inside the Siege of Sarajevo. Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves. When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and a teacher, sees that she must send her family to safety in England. Reluctant to leave her work, she stays behind as the city falls under siege. Everything Zora loves is laid to waste as she is forced to rebuild her life, over and over. Inspired by real-life accounts of the longest siege in modern warfare, exactly thirty years ago, Black Butterflies is a heartrending and utterly captivating portrait of disintegration, resilience and hope. AUTHOR: Priscilla Morris is the daughter of a Yugoslav mother and a Cornish father. She grew up in London, spending summers in Sarajevo, and studied at Cambridge University and the University of East Anglia, where she gained her PhD in Creative Writing. Black Butterflies is her debut novel.