And what about Anna?

Both Anna's brothers are dead - Jonas of Aids, and Michael and his wife in a land-mine explosion in Bosnia. On the day of her last school examination she receives a letter from her long lost friend, Hugo, which challenges all her assumptions about life and death. She travels to Ostend to meet him, unaware that she is at the centre of a complex and secretive plot which will reveal that Michael and his wife are alive but only now able to come out of hiding where they have been shielding themselves and their child from the attentions of Arkan, the Serb war criminal and his accomplice Goran, Michael's estranged father. The storyline is labyrinthine - a simultaneous voyage of discovery for Anna and the reader. Told in the first person, it provides an addictive exploration of Anna's thoughts and feelings as she strives to come to terms with a series of wholly unexpected revelations. This novel won the Flemish Youth Award 2001 and loses nothing in translation. Its consideration of life and death, loss and renewal is universal. Photography is Anna's passion and the narrative landscape is often conveyed through a skilful opposition of stark photographic imagery and poetic richness. And what about Anna? carefully and successfully examines the influences of world politics on individual lives with a sobering reminder of the damage so many endure. Its overriding message, however, is one of hope and renewal - Anna's parents are re-united through the discovery of their baby grandson, Michael returns to the family after a long disappearance, and Anna is able to cast aside her unhappiness and focus positively on her own future. This is a book for able, older readers and adults: insightful and beautifully written in a distinctive and memorable style.