The Bridge over the Drina

In the small Bosnian town of Višegrad the stone bridge of the novel’s title, built in the sixteenth century on the instruction of a grand vezir, bears witness to three centuries of conflict. Višegrad has long been a bone of contention between the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, but the bridge survives unscathed until 1914, when the collision of forces in the Balkans triggers the outbreak of World War I.

The bridge spans generations, nationalities and creeds, silent testament to the lives played out on it. Radisav, a workman, tries to hinder its construction and is impaled alive on its highest point; beautiful Fata leaps from its parapet to escape an arranged marriage; Milan, inveterate gambler, risks all in one last game on it. With humour and compassion, Andrić chronicles the lives of Catholics, Moslems and Orthodox Christians unable to reconcile their disparate loyalties.