Stjepan Šešelj

In late 1943 German forces are advancing towards Dalmatian coast, forcing many people to flee to Allied or Partizan controled areas. Group of children get stranded on a deserted island after their ship's engines broke down. However, the real adventure of their is only to begin.

The father dreams that at least his son Grga will return from Germany to his homeland because his second son is an employed Party member, lives in the city, and tries to push through some new projects in his village which traditional environment is opposed to.

Through Šimun’s conflict with the head of the new agricultural cooperative, where he is forced to work in order to feed his family, the changes that land reclamation has brought to everyday life in the Neretva Valley are depicted, destroying the traditional way of life.

Originally published in 1865, the novel's plot was inspired by Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet, and is set in Turopolje after the recent abolition of Bach's absolutism, i.e. when the Croats in the Habsburg Monarchy began to exercise political rights that long had been denied to them.