Judith

The plot of the novel Judith unfolds in the province of Judaea in the 6th century BC. The heroine is Judith, a young widow, who recounts in the first person her moving and dramatic life story.

Judith lives in cruel patriarchal times, and she has never experienced sincere love. Her aggressive husband suddenly dies shortly after their wedding.

When the Assyrians, who were the greatest military force of the time, lay siege to her town, its citizens are left without food and water, and the devastation of her town is only a matter of time. Due to her beauty, Judith is the one chosen by the city elders to go to the enemy military camp, seduce the commander, and then behead him.

In this dramatic story inspired by the well-known Biblical episode, everything takes place according to the plan of the city elders, apart from one unforeseen event: Judith falls in love with the Assyrian commander, her people’s greatest enemy…

And so the dramatic war story unexpectedly turns into a painful love story with an unhappy outcome.

Judith has gone through thirteen editions in the Croatian language. The publisher is Mozaik knjiga from Zagreb.

The novel has been published in translation in 13 languages: Russian (Azbooka Publishers, St Petersburg), French (Theatroom noctuabundi, Paris), German (Seifert Verlag Vienna), Slovenian (Orbis, Ljubljana), Slovak (Publisher Jan Jan JankoviÊ Bratislava), English (ITG, Zagreb), Norwegian (Engelstad Forlag, Oslo), Czech (Dauphin, Prague), Catalan (Editoral Ensiola, Muro-Mallorca), Serbian (MOSTART, Zemun), and Bulgarian (Fakel Express, Sofia), Esperanto (Ponto) and Czech.

The PONTO theatrical company premiered Judith in Esperanto in Beijing, China, at the World Esperanto Conference.

The novel has had an excellent reception from the critics and the public in Croatia and abroad.