When Marina’s father summons her to their Croatian island from New York—and away from her evaporating marriage—to help him save his failing cheese factory, she must face her rocky past and an uncertain future.
How do you begin again when the past threatens to drown you?
In the throes of an unraveling marriage, New Yorker Marina Maržić returns to her native Croatian island where she helps her father with his struggling cheese factory, Sirana. Forced to confront her divided Croatian-American identity and her past as a refugee from the former Yugoslavia, Marina moves in with her parents on Pag and starts a new life working at Sirana.
As she gradually settles back into a place that was once home, her life becomes inextricably intertwined with their island’s cheese. When her past with the son of a rival cheesemaker stokes further unrest on their divided island, she must find a way to save Sirana—and in the process, learn to belong on her own terms.
Exploring underlying cultural and ethnic tensions in a complex region mired in centuries of war and turmoil, The Cheesemaker’s Daughter takes us through the year before Croatia joins the European Union. On the dramatic moonscape island of Pag, we are transported to strikingly barren vistas, medieval towns, and the mesmerizing Adriatic Sea, providing a rare window into a tight-knit community with strong family ties in a corner of the world where divisions are both real and imagined.
Asking questions central to identity and the meaning of home, this richly drawn story reckons with how we survive inherited and personal traumas, and what it means to heal and reinvent oneself in the face of life’s challenges.
Kristin Vuković has written for the New York Times, BBC Travel, Travel + Leisure, Coastal Living, Virtuoso, The Magazine, Hemispheres, the Daily Beast, AFAR, Connecticut Review, and Public Books, among others.
An early excerpt of her novel was longlisted for the Cosmonauts Avenue Inaugural Fiction Prize. She was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation, and received a Zlatna Penkala (Golden Pen) award for her writing about Croatia.
Kristin holds a BA in literature and writing and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and was Editor-in-Chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art.
She grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and currently resides in New York City with her husband and daughter.
Website
https://www.instagram.com/kristinvukovic
Amazon
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203746307-the-cheesemaker-s-daughter
Why I Set My Novel in Croatia
I first encountered Croatia’s island of Pag in 2011 while reporting on a cheese festival for the Croatian Chronicle (it ended with everyone dancing on tables, and I thought I should report on cheese more often!) I learned that Pag is Croatia’s only divided island, split by a king between two bishops centuries ago.
I was captivated by the island’s moonscape terrain, and the idea of that division creating rivalries between the two sides of the island, and also between cheesemakers, since cheese is such an integral part of residents’ livelihoods. On subsequent visits to Pag, where THE CHEESEMAKER’S DAUGHTER takes place, I encountered many interesting facets of the island, some of which appear in the novel—for example, the Pag triangle, which is rumored to be connected to extraterrestrials; the ancient Lun olive groves on the fingertip of the island, which contain some of the oldest olive trees in the world; and of course, cheesemaking, which is central to the island’s heritage, history, and identity.
Although I researched cheesemaking, since this is fiction, I had fun creating different types of cheese that don’t exist on the island (Grandmother’s Cheese and the fictional cheese on the mainland with donkey’s milk doesn’t exist in Croatia, at least to my knowledge!) I also enjoyed writing about the island’s division, which isn’t that important in reality today but plays a big role in the novel, since I exacerbate it for dramatic and symbolic effect.
The division between two counties, marked by a nondescript drystone wall like all the others on the island, defines northerners and southerners—it’s a universal aspect that can apply to a lot of other places in the world. The southern part of the island belongs to Dalmatia, which is a different region than the northern part of the island, and that plays a role in identity—how people define themselves culturally and geographically—as well as resulting stereotypes.
Praise
“Kristin Vukovic’s captivating debut novel delves into the intricate tapestry of familial bonds, self-discovery, and web of obligations that entangle so many immigrants. Vukovic skillfully crafts a sophisticated and graceful narrative, weaving a tale of a woman’s transformative journey. I loved this novel!”
– Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation and The Leftover Woman
“The Cheesemaker’s Daughter is a beautiful exploration of family, identity, and the connections and responsibilities we have to those who came before us. Kristin Vukovic writes an elegant novel about a woman who blossoms into the person she was always meant to be.”
– Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of Stars in an Italian Sky and The Light We Lost
“Where do we really belong and why? While still reeling from a devastating miscarriage and a fracturing marriage, New Yorker Marina is also forced to reckon with her roots and her culture, reluctantly returning to her native Croatia to help save her family’s cheese business. Set against the backdrop of Croatia’s dark history and the rich, fascinating world of cheese making, this is a literary page-turner with unforgettable heart.”
– Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and With or Without You
"Kristin Vuković's debut novel is a mouthwatering platter of culture, history, and the everlasting struggle for balance between tradition and progress....Vuković employs beautiful, all-encompassing sensory descriptions, from the smell of the herbs in the air to the squawk of seagulls, or the faded floral print on the sheets Marina had since before she could remember. These rich details build an enticing world."
—Donna Edwards, Associated Press
"Vuković’s book wears its research lightly but it’s clear she knows her stuff, and those details are what makes ‘Daughter’ such a gouda read.”
—Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“[D]eftly weaves together themes of identity and belonging, love and loss, and growth and acceptance....Reading it, I was transported to that windswept island and felt like I was watching over Marina’s shoulder on her journey.”
—Blane Bachelor, Condé Nast Traveler
“[In] the top five of the best books I've ever read….Kristin Vuković unspools such beauty into our lives with her words. She marvelously captures the rich experience of crossing cultures, finding one's cultural identity, and following your roots to find yourself….She is a master at capturing the essence of place.”
—Dr. Jessie Voigts, Wandering Educators
“[Vuković’s] work blew me away. Her writing was stunning, her characters felt real, and as a cheese lover, it felt like she deeply understood what made cheese so rich with meaning.”
—Hannah Howard, The Cheese Professor
"Bubbling with unexpected twists and connections, it is a gripping story that will encourage readers to examine their own identity and what makes a place home."
—Vesna Jaksic Lowe, Panorama Journal
"The Cheesemaker’s Daughter is a beautiful book, with a heroine you will root for, set in a complex, fascinating place. This is not the Croatia of holiday brochures. It is a hard land, buffeted by strong winds, scorched by searing heat, where to survive is to be strong."
— Jean Shields Fleming, Certain Age Magazine
No comments:
Post a Comment