Book presentation: Destiny with notes

The novel begins as an adventure, as a Russian naval officer of Serbian origin pursues a secret mission in Trieste during the Napoleonic Wars. During this time, he falls in love, but events take an unexpected turn. Around 150 years later, a Serbian historian with a similar-sounding name witnesses a revolution in Budapest, where a strong woman also plays a central role. The connecting element between these two storylines is the personality of Đorđe Branković, a Serbian count, diplomat and writer from the 17th century. This historical link not only anchors the novel deeply in tradition, but also gives it a surreal dimension that goes beyond the usual narrative framework.

Radoslav Petković (1953-2024) was an award-winning Serbian author who wrote five novels, two collections of short stories and six volumes of essays. His works have been translated into numerous languages, including English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Slovakian and Macedonian. In addition to his own literary work, Petković has also worked as a translator, translating works by authors such as Chesterton, Tolkien, Defoe and Stevenson into Serbian.

Elvira Veselinović, born in Dessau in 1971, grew up in Yugoslavia and holds a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Cologne. She lives in Berlin, where she works as a translator, interpreter and language lecturer. She has translated numerous works from the South Slavic language world - Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian - into German. She has also translated two novels from Irish (Gaelic) into Serbian and Croatian.

Saša Lukić, born in 1982 in Požarevac, Serbia, studied archaeology in Belgrade and Berlin, where he also lives. He is a passionate reader and admirer of this novel, with a personal perspective on the book and its impact on the readership.