Ne bom se več drsal na bajerju

Young Ivan Knez lives in Upper Šiška during the Italian occupation of Ljubljana, when barbed wire rings the city and the Krisper shoe factory still stands. Like the author's own, his father has been taken to Dachau. The locals' pride is Jama castle, where nuns run a housekeeping school for girls, and with one of its pupils, the bright Eva Verdonik, Ivan meets in secret. Their love has little chance: the sisters prefer Izidor, the respected vet's son, as her dancing partner, and things turn dangerous when Lieutenant Tartaglia falls for her. Ivan grows ever closer to his mentor Kunde, an executioner of traitors for the security service, and becomes a courier and then a Partisan. After the war he begins to doubt that the new regime brings a better life. Grim history alternates with comic episodes.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

295 pages in the original

Genres

War, Coming of age, Love (assigned by AI)

Set in

Slovenia, 1940s–1950s

First published

2022 by Beletrina

Author's age

84 when first published

ISBN

9789612848675 (original)