A page-turning novel of love and war, survival and starting anew, Dubrovnik My Love is based on a true story.

Embittered by Tito’s communist dictatorship that enslaved his country after World War II, Gašpar is compelled to risk his life by escaping across the Adriatic to the ‘West’.  In his search for a better future in a stable country his attempts to escape Yugoslavia are thwarted at every turn. When his last attempt almost fails he is plucked from a watery grave to find sanctuary in Italy where he encounters romance, but also deep frustration. He migrates to Australia but cannot escape the Yugoslav Secret Agents – or the ghost of Tito when Yugoslavia blows apart and his beloved Dubrovnik is bombed.

‘I really enjoyed reading Dubrovnik My Love. It is an amazing story of survival and determination, packed with historical detail.’ Joan Rosier-Jones, Hon. President of the NZ Society of Authors

‘This book is a unique exposé of the mass migration from Yugoslavia in the 1950s. More than a million young men fled from Tito’s brutal dictatorship, responsible for over a million deaths but successfully portrayed to the world as an “idyllic” regime. Based on true happenings it tells the story of one such émigré.’ Tom Beram, President Croatian Inter-Committee Council, NSW. Recipient Pride of Australia Medal 2006.

About the author

Suzanne Brooks-Pinčević, was born in Sydney to French and English parents and spent her youth in Hong Kong before immigrating to New Zealand with her parents. Together with her husband, she operated an art studio and framing workshop, “Galerie du Lion d’Or”, in Auckland for twenty years. Suzanne has been in numerous exhibitions and has received a number of awards. She tutored adult classes in all mediums. Her large painting “The Croatian Gumdigger” is on permanent display at the Auckland City library in Henderson.

Compelled by the aggression against Croatia in the 1990s when her husband’s hometown of Dubrovnik was under siege, Suzanne published a book in 1998 about the war in Croatia (based on illustrations of her own paintings). These (now historical) paintings were donated in 1997 by the Croatian community of Auckland to their new Embassy in Canberra.

A second, Croatian edition, of her book Britain and the Bleiburg Tragedy was published jointly by three well-known Croatian organizations. This book was presented in 2009 in Zagreb by Dr Miroslav Tudjman, son of Croatia’s first President, and has received substantial coverage in Croatia. Since 1992 Suzanne has been a frequent writer in the Croatian-Australian newspapers.