Mitgift

Nela is just eight years old when her mother sends her alone on the ferry from Split to the island of Korcula. Her beloved grandmother, keeper of the secrets of nature and cuisine, is waiting for her at the harbour. Her uncle is also waiting at the farm. Nela sits trembling under the dining table, Barba has given her a lesson with the belt on her bare flesh. With a lust for revenge, she forges her plan - to become a writer. She never gets enough of her grandmother's stories: for example, about her years in the El Shatt refugee camp in Egypt, when she, like many others, had to flee from the Wehrmacht during World War II. In adolescence, Nela is torn between island and big city, grandmotherly dialect and high language. But her mantra remains: she wants to write. She goes to school in Split. She becomes increasingly ashamed of her class affiliation. And she discovers her sexuality. She escapes all role constraints. The narrative style is highly refreshing and impressive thanks to the grandmotherly vernacular full of wisdom, and the encounter between the generations is a very successful one: The grandmother, a stronghold of love and energetic courage despite narrow social structures and conventions, encounters the questions, needs and thirst for knowledge of the adolescents, who incorruptibly see life from the perspective of the lower classes. A sustainable foundation for the future.