Catch the Rabbit

It's been twelve years since inseparable childhood friends Lejla and Sara have spoken, but an unexpected phone call from Lejla thrusts Sara back into a world of memories, language, and relationships she's tried hard to forget. Despite the years of silence between them and the distance between Dublin and Bosnia, Sara can't resist Lejla's demand to return home: after twenty years, Armin has been found.

Lejla's brother, who's been missing and presumed dead since the war, is in Vienna, and the two women drive from Bosnia to find him. The road trip takes them on a journey through their homeland and the even more treacherous terrain of their conflicting memories of each other and their adolescence. Sara is forced to reckon with her flawed perception of Leila, the inverse experiences they had during the war, and the disparate lives they now lead as she is confronted by Lejla's version of their shared past.

Lana Bastasic's award-winning debut novel Catch the Rabbit reveals the complexities of a friendship formed in the innocence of youth, shaped by conflict, and marked by loss as Sara and Lejla discover that in order to move forward, they can't let go of the past.