Zlata's diary

The diary of a Croatian girl whose world collapses, when war breaks out. Filipovic begins her diary in autumn 1991 as a contented 10-year-old. Soon the bombs start falling; her friends are killed by shrapnel or snipers' bullets; her family's country house burns down, and they survive on UN food packages, without gas, electricity or water, as thousands of Sarajevans die. Filipovic, whose circle of friends included Serbs, Croats and Muslims, blames the former Yugoslavia's politicians for dividing ethnic groups and playing hell with people's lives. Suggested level: intermediate, secondary. Originally published: London : Viking, 1994. x, 192 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, facsimiles, portrait s ; 18 cm