• Publisher: Beletrina
• 217 pages
• Author: Ana Schnabl
• Original title: Mojstrovina

The golden 1980s in the Socialist Yugoslavia were a curious time, a time when the country had undoubtedly already begun its descent into disinte- gration, but when the bloody years that would follow seemed inconceivable. A remarkable time of unprecedented freedom of thought and travel, a time of dissident movements and heady music and lively literary scenes. But also a time when the state still had a tight grip on the lives of its citizens, not least through its security services and its web of informants.

It is 1985 and Adam, a professor of literature at Ljubljana University, decides to try his hand at writing again after almost twenty years. Ana is the editor that receives his manuscript, ‘The Masterpiece’. The protagonists’ professional relationship soon crosses boundaries and they become entangled in an intense, adulterous affair. But Adam moves in dissident circles and Ana owes her coveted position as the youngest editor in the history of the biggest state publishing house to her cooperation with the dark side of the government. The Masterpiece is as much a love story that rocks the lives of the two main characters as it is a political drama that changes the map of the world.

About the author

Ana Schnabl

Ana Schnabl (1985) is a writer and editor. A doctoral student of phi- losophy, her research focuses on feminist autobiography. She writes for several Slovenian literary jour- nals, has collaborated with the daily Dnevnik and is the first editor of the Versopolis Review. In 2017, her short story collection Razvezani (Disentan- gling) received the Best Debut Award at the annual Slovenian Book Fair as well as a number of nominations for other awards. So far, she has writ- ten two novels, namely Mojstrovina (The Masterpiece) and Plima (Tide), and she is currently working on a collection of novellas about failed (fictional) female artists and a

non-fiction book about mushrooms. Her first literary translation, Daisy Johnson’s Sisters, will be published in 2022. In her spare time, she is a helicopter parent to two dogs and a cat and dreams of having a vegetable garden.