Catherine the Great and the Small

Wonderfully dynamic, fun, dark, full of memorable characters. I enjoyed how important the rough unpolished character of Montenegro's people, landscapes and cultures are to the novel and also its protagonists. A family story, a story of women, of resilience, of forgiving, of second and third lives, of a country going through war and transforming. There's a ladies' grave that doesn't fill in the right order, there's a love story that keeps you guessing. In the center of it all is Catherine, our heroine, who's the rock for those around her.