Books

Literary fiction · Albania

Borrowed

A Novel of Identity, a Divided Self, and the Voice He Could Not Silence

Borrowed follows Luan Kodra, a bookseller in Tirana whose life begins to break apart after personal loss. As he moves through Albania, a strange voice inside his head grows harder to separate from his own thoughts.

The novel examines identity, divided self, family, poverty, marginalisation, corruption, affection and the dignity of ordinary people. Albania is not simply a setting. Tirana, its streets, books, homes and social pressures are part of the story.

Read Borrowed if you are interested in

• Literary fiction about identity and psychological conflict
• Albania and contemporary Balkan society
• Families shaped by economic pressure and social inequality
• Books, memory, loss and the difficulty of starting again

Literary fiction · Kosovo

The Silence That Remains

A Novel of Post-War Kosovo and Memory

When the violence ends, the struggle over memory begins. The Silence That Remains follows Arben, Blerta and Afrim as they establish the Echoes Foundation, an archive intended to preserve the names, testimony and memories of people erased by conflict.

An anonymous message inside the locked archive room forces them to confront a harder question: what happens when memory itself is incomplete, manipulated or politically useful?

Read this novel if you are interested in

• Kosovo and the Balkans after war
• Memory, testimony and contested history
• The politics of archives and public truth
• Human relationships shaped by conflict and its aftermath

Social and political nonfiction

Hatred, Intolerance, and Silence

The Cost of Indifference

This nonfiction book examines how hatred becomes socially acceptable, how intolerance is reinforced through identity and fear, and why silence and institutional indifference can allow exclusion to deepen.

The focus is not only on openly extremist actors. The book also considers the political, social and institutional conditions that make hostility easier to normalise and harder to challenge.

Read this book if you are interested in

• Hatred, intolerance and political polarisation
• Identity, exclusion and discrimination
• The role of institutions and public debate
• The consequences of silence and indifference

Political economy · Demography

Global Depopulation

Impacts, Challenges, and the Path Forward

Global Depopulation examines declining birth rates, ageing societies and shrinking populations as a major economic and political challenge. It considers what happens when workforces contract, dependency ratios rise and governments must rethink growth, pensions, migration and public services.

Read this book if you are interested in

• Demographic decline and ageing societies
• Labour shortages and economic growth
• Migration and population policy
• Welfare systems, pensions and public finance
• How demographic change may reshape politics and international power