Forgotten Son

Mislav, a slightly mentally-impaired young man of twenty, with the intelligence of a ten-year-old, is the hero of this novel. After 15 years spent in various institutions, the young man returns to his village family. His arrival is a shock for their neighbours. His younger brother and sister had not even known that they had a brother because their parents had kept it a secret from them all their lives. Mislav has a hard time adapting to the new environment and circumstances. Happily, a girl who lives nearby helps him to fit in to everyday life. A warm feeling of love blossoms between them, to the horrified reaction of the girl's father... The novel is written in the first person singular as the hero's diary, which exudes gentleness and human warmth.

When Forgotten Son appeared in bookshops in 1989, it was met with delight by both readers and critics, and the hard-cover 1st edition sold out in only nine months.

Forgotten Son has gone throught eight editions in Croatian. Translated and published in English, Slovenian, Spanish and German. Selected for THE IBBY HONOUR LIST 2002 in Basel, Switzerland.

MIRO GAVRAN is a contemporary Croatian author, born in 1961. His works have been translated into 35 languages, and his books have come out in 150 different editions at home and abroad. His dramas and comedies have had more than 200 theatre first nights around the world and have been seen by more than two million theatre-goers.

www.mirogavran.com