Forbidden Bread: A Memoir

"Debeljak was living in New York when she met a handsome Slovene man at a cocktail party. She ended up moving to Slovenia with him, living in the capital, Ljubljana. She faces the classic struggles that foreigners take on when moving to a new country; the language, the bureaucracy, the differences in culture – and she writes very entertainingly, with great humour and honesty. It’s a revealing and often poignant account of her relationship with her husband, her husband’s family, and Slovenia in general, and later, her experience of raising a family in a country that does some things quite differently to her American homeland. Most of the story takes place in the mid-nineties, when Slovenia was newly independent and transitioning from its socialist past to its democratic and capitalist present after the ten-day war in 1991. (Compared to the rest of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia escaped largely unscathed with very little damage to people or property). So the book provides a very interesting insight into this period of Slovenia’s history and what life was like during this time. I think Slovenia has changed quite a lot in the twenty years since but much remains the same and the book continues to make insightful and enjoyable reading for anyone curious about the country."