ABOUT THE BOOK

Nadejda is backpacking around New Zealand, in the surreal haze of summer. Her encounters are comic and revealing - and often sexual. But Nadejda's tour is a deep and personal one; it is a journey into memory and family myth. Faded memories of happy times conflict with more disturbing pictures as her determination to uncover the truth is diffused with an immigrant's yearning to belong and a young woman's longing for love.

And who is the mystery narrator who 'talks' to Nadejda as her travels lead her to him? Set against the turmoil of present-day Bulgaria and the sweet simplicity of her new country, 'Reconnaissance' is a grand, sweeping novel of family secrets, dislocation and ultimate reconciliation.

Kapka Kassabova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1973. Kapka and her family moved to England when she was 16 - and two years later they settled in New Zealand where she is now a full-time writer. Her first book of poetry, 'All Roads Lead to the Sea', won the 1998 Montana Award for Best First Book of Poetry, and she has recently published a second volume of poetry. She lives in Wellington.