Murisa

by Frei Lainscek

Translated from the original Slovenian by Erica Johnson Debeljak

On the eve of the second World War, Engineer Julian Spransky returns to his native Marska Sobota, occupied by the Yugoslav Army  since 1919. His hometown is as ever, dominated by the powerful Mura river, which took the lives of his parents, one by one. He follows his father’s previous career  in the Mura Waterworks, and in a futile effort to control the river, builds a magnificant bridge.

But events are happening over which Julian has no control, the approaching German army and his love for Zenaida, the wild child daughter of the insane Ivan Kozlov..

Feri Lainscek (born in Dolenci, Slovenia in 1959) has received many awards and prizes for his literary work. In 1995, he received the Preseren Fund Prize fro his novel Ki jo je megla prinesla. In 1992, he received the Kresnik Award for the best Slovenian novel for Namesto Koga roza cveti.  In 2007 he received a second Kresnik Award for his novel Murisa. In 2000, Lainscek’s collection of fairytales Mislice won the award for the best Slovenian work of literature for young people. He received the Kajuh Award for his novel Raza and the Vladimar Slejko Fund Award for Astralni niz.  He was short-listed among the ten finalists for the 2008 Europe Book Prize the award for the best European book.