The Fig Tree is a novel composed of the intertwining
stories of the family of Jadran, a 30-something who tries to piece together the
story of his relatives in order to better understand himself. Because he cannot
understand why Anja walked out of their shared life, he tries to understand the
suspicious death of his grandfather and the withdrawal of his grandmother into
oblivion and dementia. With all his might, Jadran tries to understand the
departure of his father in the first year of the war in the Balkans as he also tries
to comprehend his mother, with her bewildering resentment of his grandfather, and
her silent disappointment with his father.
The Fig Tree is a multigenerational family saga, a tour de
force spanning three generations from the mid-20th century through the Balkans wars
of the 90s until present day. Vojnović is a master storyteller, and while
fateful choices made by his characters are often dictated by the historical
realities of the times they live in, at its heart this is an intimate story of
family, of relationships, of love and freedom and the choices we make.