The Time of the Goats

ISBN: 0299290948

Author: Starova, Luan

Condition: New

Its the late 1940s in Skopje, Yugoslavia, in the critical year leading to Titos break with Stalin. Pushed to leave mountain villages to become the new proletariat in urban factories, a flood of peasants crowds into Skopje-and with them, all of their goats. Suffering from hunger, Skopjes citizens welcome the newcomers. But municipal leaders are faced with a dilemma when the central government issues an order calling for the slaughter of the countrys goat population. With food so scarce, will they hide the outlawed animals? Or will they comply with the edict and endure the bite of hunger?The Time of the Goats is the second novel in Luan Starovas acclaimed multivolume Balkan saga. It follows the main characters from My Fathers Books and the tragicomic events of their lives in Skopje as the narrators intellectual father and the head goatherd become friends. As local officials clumsily carry out absurd policies, Starova conveys the bonds of understanding and mutual support that form in Skopjes poorest neighborhoods. At once historical and allegorical, folkloric and fantastic, The Time of the Goats draws lyrically on Starovas own childhood.