The Love I Saved for You

From the author of the international bestseller The Women at Hitler’s Table.

Spring, 1992. Above the orphanage in Sarajevo, the sky is leaden with bombs. Ten-year-old Omar spends his days at the window, risking sniper fire in the desperate hope of seeing his mother return.

One July morning they are herded onto a bus to salvation. But Omar worries his mother will never manage to find him. And Nada fears that her brother will be killed at war. On the bus racing toward Italy, braving rubble-strewn roads, and the savage cruelty of prowling Chetniks, Nada meets thirteen-year-old Danilo. He has warm hands, a family somewhere, and he promises to take care of her.

Omar. Nada. Danilo. As the tragedy devastating Europe shatters their every certainty, these three defenseless creatures forge a tormented bond destined to last a lifetime.

In this coming-of-age novel and war story about “the fault of being born,” we see how easy it is not only to endure pain but also to inflict it, and how powerful the will to live can be, proving itself inextinguishable, even in the midst of horror.

Strega Prize Finalist 2023

Rosella Postorino’s ability to write about the pain of a survivor of a war thirty years ago confirms once again the power of literature.
Donatella Di Pietrantonio, La Repubblica

May this book settle in those who read it, in memory of the children torn apart by war. May the creatures of this book touch all those who read its pages and become attached to them, as though they have met and accompanied them in their existence.
Erri De Luca, la Lettura – Corriere della Sera

Sarajevo is shaped like a cradle, – writes Rosella Postorino, – and there within it, even the most steadfast childhood has been corrupted. The rest is purgatory. Or forgetfulness, which is the ferocity of survival.
Andrea Bajani, TTL – La Stampa

Rights sold:
France (Albin Michel)
Lithuania (Alma Littera)
Saudi Arabia (Tashkeell)
Slovak Republic (Literarna Bašta)
Slovenia (Hisa Knjig)
Spain (Anagrama)
Film rights optioned by Fandango