Raki — B. Wongar

'Raki' is the Australian Aboriginal generic word for rope, the unifying metaphor of Wongar's novel, representing the conquered or bound state of oppressed people. From the confines of an outback Australian prison cell to war-torn Serbia, 'Raki' invokes a powerful story of enchantment and struggle - the struggle to uphold traditions and nurture memory and joyous fortitude in the face of human devastation.

 

Drawing on tragic similarities between the forced separation of Aboriginal children from their tribal families and the decimation of his Serbian native land, B. Wongar has written an epic, surprisingly optimistic novel. And the unifying symbol is raki - the rope which fuses the historical facts, linking the Serbian and Aboriginal cultures to time immemorial. But raki is also the yoke of servitude, the rope which snaps with the shock of genocide, but which ultimately binds people together with love.