• Publisher: Beletrina
• 233 pages
• Author: Dušan Šarotar
• Original title: Biljard v Dobrayu

In the centre of Murska Sobota stands the renowned Hotel Dobray, once the gathering place of townspeople of all nationalities and social strata who lived in this small town in the middle of Prekmurje, a typical Pannonian panorama on the fringe of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The town had always been home to ethnically and culturally mixed communities – this is what gave it the charm and melos of Central-European identity. But now, in the thick of World War II, it is occupied by the Hungarian army.

For the past month, Franz Schwartz’s wife Ellsie has been preparing their son Isaac, a gifted violinist, for his first solo concert, which is to take place at Hotel Dobray. Isaac is to perform at his bar mitzvah on 26 April 1944. When the German army marches into town and forces all Jews to

display yellow stars on their clothes, Ellsie warns her husband that the family should flee the town. Schwartz promises her he will obtain forged documents, but not before Isaac performs his concert at the hotel.

A year later, in March 1945, Schwartz returns to the hotel on foot and alone; one of the few survivors of the horrors of Auschwitz.

About the author

Dušan Šarotar

Dušan Šarotar (1968) is a writer, poet, screen- writer and photographer. He has published five novels, two collections of short stories, three poetry collections and a book of essays. He is also the author of fifteen screenplays for documen- tary and feature films. His short film Mario Was Watching the Sea with Love (Mario je gledal morje z zaljubljenimi očmi), based on short stories from his collection Blind Spot (Mrtvi kot), won the

2016 Global Short Film Award in New York and the first prize in Ningbo, China, for best short film. Šarotar’s novels, stories and poems have been translated into several languages. Two of his novels, Billiards at the Hotel Dobray (Biljard v Dobrayu, 2007) and Panorama (2015), were nom- inated for the Kresnik Award for best novel of the

year. Šarotar has also had several photographic 43

exhibitions in national galleries and abroad.