Slanting Towards the Sea

Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje is a decades-spanning love story that follows Ivona and Vlaho, who meet as students in Zagreb at the turn of the millennium and fall instantly in love.

Years later, following their divorce, Ivona has returned to her coastal hometown of Zadar to care for her ailing father, yet remains bound to Vlaho's family in ways neither of them can quite escape.

When a new relationship enters her life, it upends the fragile balance between them and forces all three characters to confront long-buried resentments and desires.

Set against the backdrop of Croatia's transformation into a newly democratic nation, and moving between Cavtat, Zadar, and Zagreb, the novel is a meditation on longing, memory, and the difficulty of claiming a life of one's own.