Armela

This novel takes place from 1992-1993 in Bosnia. Armela, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, has been married just over a year when the Bosniaks attack Srebrenica. Her husband Armin disappears underground. In the dead of night, his friends take her to live with his Bosniak aunt. Armela adopts a new identity as Jasmina Akel. At a dinner party, Armin’s aunt introduces her to a high-ranking Bosniak official, who hires her to work as his assistant. Her husband’s friends urge her to use this position to access details of forthcoming Bosniak attacks. She endangers her safety—and her marriage vows—to help her husband’s cause. As the atrocities of Bosniaks intensify, so does her relationship with the Bosniak official, building to a climax that risks her double life and the lives of those she loves.