Ranko Risojevic

The Bosnian Hangman Ranko Risojevic

About the Book

The Bosnian Hangman is a chronicle about the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, during tumultuous war times. The novel starts with the moment when the state executioner, Alois Seifried, arrives to Sarajevo with Austro-Hungarian forces, who are chasing out the Turks after the fall of the monstrous Ottoman Empire. It concludes with the end of the First World War when those same forces are being sent back to the collapsed Vienna, as a dragon with its head cut off. The plot is dynamic and spreads in several directions, drawing the writer's and the reader's attention first to the events that took place prior to the Austrian occupation, then during the First World War, and finally to a couple of glimpses into the time after the Second World War. Besides the main character, who is depicted from various angles, the novel portrays many other historic characters and reflects on the clash between the East and the West. Threads of grave historic events slowly interweave to reveal the captivating complexity of this region and its peoples.