Black Butterflies : Longlisted for the Women's Prize

Exploring the Siege of Sarajevo through the lens of one woman’s experience, Morris’ haunting novel about a painter and teacher who refuses to flee combines the traumatic realities of war with hope, resilience and solace in art.

Shortlisted for The Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents - whether Muslim, Croat or Serb - push the makeshift barriers aside.

When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England. Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over and over. Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope.

MEDIA REVIEWS

'It reads like a straight telling of one woman's experience and feels totally authentic... Along with human kindness, there is a quiet emphasis on the power of art: Zora's paintings, like the existence of this book, are testimony to the way that wars come and go but art goes on forever.' - The Sunday Times