If you’re in search of some armchair travel or inspiration for your next trip, we’ve rounded up nine of our favourite books set in the western Balkans.
Whether you’re looking to escape to the idyllic mountainscapes or understand the region’s complex past, these books will have you gripped – and perhaps even inspire you to visit the Balkans.
Our carefully curated reading list will whisk you away to Mostar’s cobbled streets, Croatia’s turquoise lakes, and Albania’s timeless mountain villages.
Meet Europe’s native Muslim communities in Tharik Hussain’s travelogue, follow ethnic Serb writer Mary Novakovich as she traces her family’s roots in Croatia, or watch four centuries of turbulent history play out on the Drina River in Nobel prize winner Ivo Andrić’s novel.
Books set in Albania
High Albania by Mary Edith Durham
Follow intrepid Edwardian explorer Mary Edith Durham into the Balkans, a region few dared to cross at the turn of the 20th century when war and violence loomed over a collapsing Ottoman empire.
Durham’s most famous book, High Albania, is a remarkable account of her adventures in the remote mountains of Albania and Montenegro where tribal communities lived untouched by modernity and foreign influence. You’ll be amazed by the stories and customs of the people she met.
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi
Albanian writer Lea Ype gives an honest and insightful account of her life under the communist regime and after its collapse in her memoir Free.
A fascinating read about one of the world’s most misunderstood countries, you will learn about the challenges and joys of living in Albania, which has long been overlooked by the rest of the world.
Ypi’s latest book, Indignity, is also set in Albania, but explores the beginning of the 20th century and the beginnings of WWII in Albania through the story of Ypi’s enigmatic grandmother.
Books set in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Logavina street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood by Barbara Demick
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barbara Demick, paints a powerful and moving picture of the people who lived and died on a single street in Sarajevo during the siege of the city in the 1990s.
A must-read for those who want to understand the Bosnian war, you will witness the courage, resilience, and humanity of Logavina Street’s residents as they simply tried to preserve their dignity and sanity amid the horrific violence.
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić
In the quaint town of Višegrad in what’s now the Republika Srpska in Bosnia, a stone bridge on the Drina River bears witness to four centuries of history, from its construction during the Ottoman era to the genocide during the Bosnian war.
Born and raised in Travnik, 90 km west of Sarajevo, Ivo Andrić won the Nobel Prize in 1961 for his writings about Bosnia. Through this fictional masterpiece, you will witness the events which shaped the region and the lives and fates of the characters who crossed the bridge.
In Late Summer by Magdalena Blažević
This beautiful book told through the perspective of a child is also set during the 1990s war, and mostly revolves around one mountain village. Despite the underlying tragedy, the book manages to capture the beauty of the mountains, old village rhythms of life and nostalgia for a childhood spent in nature.
Books set in Croatia
My Family and Other Enemies: Life and Travels in Croatia’s Hinterland by Mary Novakovich
This part travelogue, part memoir is set in Lika, a little known but breathtakingly beautiful region in central Croatia, where British-Serbian journalist Mary Novakovich’s parents were born. She first visited as a child during the supposedly golden years of Tito and has returned many times to research her family’s fate during and after the breakup of Yugoslavia. In fact, Novakovich wrote a part of her book while travelling on assignment with the Undiscovered Balkans team.
Bringing light between the shades of darkness are the eccentric and witty characters, anecdotes about the Balkan sense of humour and glimpses into Croatian daily life, which revolves heavily around food.
Books set in Kosovo
Travels in Blood and Honey: becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo by Elizabeth Gowing
Part travelogue, part memoir and part historical non-fiction, British writer Elizabeth Gowing shines a light on Europe’s newest country as it continues to recover from the war.
Gowing, who lives in Kosovo with her partner, introduces readers to the beauty and diversity of Kosovo, its people, traditions, and cuisine, as well as the challenges and hopes of the young nation.
Edith and I: on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo by Elizabeth Gowing
One hundred years after stubborn Scottish lass Edith Durham travelled in her tam o’shanter across the Accursed Mountains into Kosovo, Elizabeth Gowing also came to Kosovo and also fell in love with the country. She retraces Edith’s footsteps to find herself jolting along Kosovan roads in a ‘motokultivator’, learning the secrets of the harem, the treasures of Unesco World Heritage Site monasteries and more. This is also a soulful meditation on living between two countries: Gowing’s home in London and her adopted home in Pristina.
Books set in Montenegro
The Land of the Black Mountain: The Adventures of Two Englishmen in Montenegro by Gerald Prance and Reginald Wyon
This memoir provides equal measures of escapism and history from two male adventurers who visit Montenegro in the early 20th century, when the country was completely landlocked.
A little-known classic in the travel literature genre, Prance and Wyon’s vivid descriptions of the alluring landscapes and hospitable locals will hit you with a serious dose of wanderlust while also introducing you to the history and politics of the nation.
Books set in Bulgaria
Border, Elixir and Anima by Kapka Kassabova
Three beautifully written memoirs on the landscapes and mountains of Bulgaria by a travel writer who hails from Sofia and Lake Ohrid. Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe is a kind of pilgrimage along the villages on Bulgaria’s border with Turkey and Greece, in the Strandzha and Sakar mountains.
Elixir is set in the Mesta valley, and is a spellbinding journey with folk healers, foragers and wild plant gatherers who supply Europe with a huge portion of its medicinal herbs.
Anima: A Wild Pastoral follows the Karakachans, perhaps the last true pastoralists of Europe, over the course of one summer, as they move from the high to low pastures of the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria.
Books set in North Macedonia
To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace by Kapka Kassabova
Stories collected along the shorelines of lakes Prespa and Ohrid, where Kassabova’s maternal ancestors lived and owned apple orchards. This lake has been shuffled around between different rulers so frequently that the locals refer to the fast-changing regimes almost as if they were football scores: Serbia 1 (1913-15), for example, Bulgaria 2 (1941-4), North Macedonia 1 (1999 – present). This is a book full of characters and beautiful scenic descriptions of the lakes.
Books about ex-Yugoslavia
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
This monumental work of literature by British writer and critic, Rebecca West, will take you on a journey through the Balkans shortly after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1930s.
First published in 1942, Rebecca West’s epic masterpiece captures what was then Yugoslavia right before the Second World War. An essential read for anyone attempting to understand the history of the Balkans, West’s travelogue paints a vivid portrait of the region, its people and destiny.
Books about The Balkans
Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe by Tharik Hussain
Award-winning Britis-Muslim travel journalist Tharik Hussain provides a fresh perspective on the Balkans by shining a light on its forgotten Muslim communties.
Hussain’s mission is to write the untold story of Islam in the Balkans back into its narrative – and he achieves it with the help of the inspiring and hospitable people he meets on his travels. Throughout his witty and perceptive travelogue, Hussain, of Pakistani heritage, grapples with his own stereotypes about Islamic identity after meeting blond-haired, blue-eyed Muslims.
Feeling inspired to visit? Check out our tours and latest offers. Happy reading!
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