The Small Boat of Great Sorrows by Dan Fesperman

Better watch what you dig up on the job. It could be a metaphor for something bigger. Former cop Vlado Petric of Sarajevo got his family out of what was left of Yugoslavia and settled in Berlin. Now he works construction doing site preparation for German builders. On one dig, he comes across an underground bunker that was a rest haven for SS drivers. Walking through the bunker brings back some chilling memories of Vlado.

            

Seemingly out of nowhere, an American working for the war crimes tribunal in The Hague contacts Vlado to see if he’d be interested in doing a little undercover work in Serbia. The tribunal has been on the trail of a World War 2 Croatian officer accused of genocide. Seems the Croatian sided with the Nazi’s and what was done to ethnic minorities rivaled what the Nazi’s did. But to get to this guy, the tribunal has to get to a younger version who also committed atrocities during the break up of Yugoslavia. This piece of work is to be lured out with the offer of grants to remove mines and Vlado is tabbed to make contact. If successful, the tribunal suggests that Vlado and his family would be able to go back home.

            

After agreeing, Vlado and his American contact head to Croatia, but at each step, Vlado learns bit by bit just how and why the tribunal came to select him to do this job. And like digging up that bunker in Berlin, one can be quite surprised at what one digs up when they keep digging, and most of the reasons point to Vlado’s father who never really addressed the question of “what did you do in the war, Daddy.” Was his role in WWII what Vlado thought or was it worse? And why did his dad go to Italy after the war and stay for 15 years? The more you dig, the more surprises unfold.

            

Fesperman is a journalist from Baltimore who has covered a number of hostilities so his attention to historical detail is critical in setting the scene at both the end of WWII and after the Balkin war. Each day is like rolling away another stone hiding some detail of the conflict and just who and what Vlado’s father was.

            

This book is Fesperman’s 2^nd and I think it would have been better to have read the first novel, "Life in the Dark," where Vlado is introduced and the reasons behind why he had to leave his home so suddenly. Despite that, the circuitous path followed by Vlado is curious enough to keep you tuned attentively to the details. I’m certain more Fesperman books will be reviewed here. Thanks again to Jack the Librarian for suggesting Fesperman’s books.

By the way, the slightly pretentious title is actually a line from an old Slavic poem.

East Coast Don