THE WOMAN FROM SARAJEVO

In 1935 Raika Radakovich died in Belgrade on Stishka Street, No. 16 A, of natural causes. Case dismissed- by the police, but not by the Nobel-prize winning Yugoslavian who reconstructs her life into this novel. A miserly old maid with one obsession, to make a million, Miss Radakovich starts out to avenge her ruined father's death by living in the ""world of money."" She husbanded capital happily in Sarajevo from 1906 until 1919, when money was suddenly declared extinct and she was accused of war-profiteering. With bloodless single-mindedness, she began again in Belgrade only to die alone without achieving her dream.... A poetic story of a life without poetry, again Andric has managed to invest a simple narrative with the morality and some of the quality of the folk tale. The climate of Yugoslavia in one of its most historic moments is, in itself, almost enough. Andric never judges; his story does it for him. Although not as unusual as some of his other books which have appeared here (Bosnian Chronicle, etc.), the novel will be welcomed by those who know his work, admire his artistry in his contemporary, native idiom.