56 pages • 1-hour read
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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, sexual violence and harassment, rape, child sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, racism, and religious discrimination.
In the present timeline, Hana brings Dylan home and shows him around her farm, introducing him to the cows and letting him explore the house and his bedroom. She arranges for a coworker to watch him so that she can drive to Zaim’s property. She is now sure that he is a bounty hunter looking for the “Night Mora,” which is the name that the Serbs gave her during the war. She recalls how, at the end of the war, she found out that her uncle Reuf was one of the men killed at Srebrenica. She knows that she could provide Claypool with the location of Zaim’s property, but she would rather kill him herself.
In the past, Nura and Natasja walk through the village together until it is time for them to separate and surveil different areas. After Natasja leaves, two soldiers begin following Nura. Although she has two knives, she knows that it would be difficult to reach for them in the event of an attack. They begin jeering at her, and one grabs her. He wants to take her into an apartment building where he claims to have food. She angrily tells him that this is no way for a soldier to treat a woman. She appeals to the other soldier, who is older: She asks him if this is how he would have his daughter treated. Her ploy works, and the soldiers move on.
In the present, Hana arrives at Zaim’s property. He has a small trailer, and she approaches it soundlessly. There is an overpowering stench of death in the air—a scent she remembers from the war. Inside the trailer, Zaim sits in a chair with a length of cord wrapped around his neck. He is clearly dead and has likely been dead for several days at least. Hana finds an array of therapy files and guesses that he was using them to blackmail Amina’s therapist’s patients. However, Amina’s file is not among them.
In the past timeline, Nura sees a burned mosque and enters it to have a location from which to observe the town. The inside has been desecrated with feces and urine, and Nura feels a pang in her heart. Looking around, she spies what must be a barracks. She is happy to have a location: This piece of information will be useful to her unit. A vehicle approaches the barracks, and she sees the man who killed her mother: Colonel Zorić.
In the present, Hana considers telling Claypool about Zaim, but she thinks better of it. Instead, she calls in an anonymous tip to 911 from a payphone in St. Paul.
In the past timeline, Nura meets back up with Natasja, and they mark their findings on a map of the village. Natasja is pleased that Nura has determined the location of the barracks. The two are sure that their unit will be able to avenge Srebrenica’s victims.
In the past timeline, Nura and Natasja are discovered as they exit the village. Two soldiers drive up in a truck too quickly for the women to escape, and a fight ensues when the soldiers attempt to search them while grinning lewdly. Natasja runs, and Nura remains to fight. More soldiers arrive in more trucks. Although she is able to stab one of the soldiers, they ultimately overpower her. As she lies on the ground with her arms zip-tied behind her back, she watches the soldiers kill Adem and Enes, who had been hiding nearby and shooting at the Serbian convoy.
In the present, Hana prepares breakfast for Dylan, and the two talk. Dylan misses Amina and tells Hana that one of the other boys in foster care called him an “orphan.” Hana explains that when people are hurt, they often lash out at those around them. She cautions him not to take insults to heart. As they hug, Claypool drives up to the farmhouse.
In the past, Nura is brutally beaten and then taken to a cell in the Serbian barracks. There, she meets a terrified, traumatized girl named Amina who recounts her sister’s death and her own mistreatment at the hands of Serbian soldiers. Nura has a hidden knife, and she asks Amina to use it to cut her zip ties, but soldiers interrupt. One of them is Luka, the man who shot Danis. He tells her that Colonel Zorić wants to interrogate her himself because she is a spy. Luka promises to return and torture her to death.
In the present timeline, Claypool reveals that he knows Hana called 911 to report Zaim’s death. He is not pleased that she continues to interfere with his investigation. He notes the presence of one footprint at the crime scene: a women’s running shoe in a size six. Hana calmly tells him that he will not find the shoe in her house but that he is welcome to search for it. He tells her that he has confirmation that Zaim is actually a wanted Serbian war criminal named Bosko Ivanović who has been living under the name of a man from Srebrenica, and Hana fumes silently. The detective then tells her that Zaim had all of Amina’s therapist’s files except for Amina’s. He accuses her of stealing it, and she truthfully tells him that she does not have it. He tells her that Zaim’s burner phone had called only two numbers: another burner and the United Nations (UN) Mission of Serbia. Hana is genuinely confused by this piece of information since she has no idea why Zaim would have anything to do with a diplomatic organization.
In the past, Nura asks Amina to finish cutting her loose once the soldiers leave. Amina is terrified and explains that there is nothing they can do but wait for the soldiers to return to torture them again. She calls the soldier who “visits” her at night “Iblis,” or the devil. Patiently, Nura explains to her that if they are both brave, they might survive. She gives her Danis’s blue marble, which she has carried with her since the day her family was murdered. She explains that it has been her “amulet” and that it will keep Amina safe. Amina then cuts her loose and gives her the knife. Silently, Nura waits for her opportunity to kill Luka and Zorić.
In the present, Hana explains to Dylan that they will be attending Amina’s funeral. He is teary-eyed but tells her that he would like to go so that he can say goodbye. While he is getting ready, Hana googles Bosko Ivanović. She finds little information that is of use to her. Then, she googles the UN Mission of Serbia. Again, she finds nothing that answers her questions. She continues to search the UN mission’s pages, and eventually, she is stunned to see a face that she knows very well and has not seen in many years.
These chapters continue to develop the protagonist’s characterization across both timelines. Hana recalls the epithet given to her by Serb forces while falsely accusing her of war crimes: the “Night Mora.” This title invokes a Slavic demon from folklore, the mora, which is usually depicted as a female monster that attacks at night. The Night Mora becomes one of the novel’s most powerful symbols of strength and perseverance in the face of extreme adversity, and it sets the tone for the protagonist’s actions in the chapters that follow.
The dangerous recon mission that Nura and Natasja undertake is critical to both Nura’s characterization and the novel’s engagement with the politics of gender as they intersect with wartime violence. When they are stopped and sexually harassed by soldiers, Nura remains collected and assertive even though her life is in danger. Though the soldiers threaten her safety and Luka promises to torture her, she calmly outsmarts them. This reveals the extent to which she has grown: Nura is no longer a helpless witness to violence but a resilient individual capable of shaping her own fate. This scene additionally depicts the ever-present threat of sexual violence that looms over Nura and her fellow female Bosniaks, both civilians and soldiers. Nura knows that the younger of the two soldiers intends to sexually assault her, and she understands that this scene will replay itself with other women.
Nura also displays the resilience embodied in the figure of the Night Mora in her interactions with Amina. Amina is younger than Nura and has been subjected to torture and brutal, repeated rape by a man whom she labels “Iblis,” which is the Muslim name for Satan. Nura needs Amina’s help to free herself from the zip ties that bind her wrist, but she also knows that this young girl needs someone to reassure her and help her locate her own inner well of strength. She does so in part through kind words but also by giving her the blue marble that she has kept since the day of her family’s murder. She gifts it to Amina, explaining, “Take this, it has been my amulet” (239). Here, the blue marble represents solidarity and the transfer of strength, showing how trauma survivors can forge strong bonds that help them endure. Through this act, Nura shows that she embodies the empowering qualities of the Night Mora.
In the present day, Hana channels this same energy to investigate Zaim. She puts herself in danger by traveling to his property alone at night, but she prepares herself for the task by recalling lessons she learned during her training and wartime combat in Bosnia. In so doing, she maintains a connection to the life she once led and her experiences as a solider: Traumatic as they were, those experiences taught her valuable survival skills. By showing Hana’s continuity with her younger self, the novel reinforces the theme of Rebuilding Identity in the Aftermath of Trauma: She remains strong even after enduring the horrors of war.
The Lasting Impact of Wartime Atrocities remains a key focal point during the novel’s present-day and flashback chapters. Flashbacks to Nura’s capture by Serb paramilitary forces show that she is once again forced to bear witness as loved ones—her fellow soldier Enes and her romantic partner, Adem—are killed by the Serb forces. After Nura’s capture, she is taken to a Serbian prison where prisoners are routinely tortured and subjected to sexual assault. Although she responds to both of these events with her characteristic strength and resilience, these experiences will haunt her long into adulthood. The novel underscores how these traumas shape identity, relationships, and memory long after the war’s end.
Finally, Hana’s relationship with Dylan reveals a more tender dimension of her character. She takes care to make him feel at home in her farmhouse and does her best to reassure him that she will take care of him. She also helps him navigate his grief for Amina. Like her own father before her, Hana is a source of both love and wisdom for the boy. Although the novel largely focuses on Hana’s strength and resilience, these scenes depict her as a loving individual who values relationships.



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