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Slanting Towards the Sea

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Slanting Towards the Sea

By: Lidija Hilje
Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers
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About this listen

An evocative meditation on longing and buried resentment, set in the beautiful Croatian city of Zadar.

Ivona has returned to her childhood home to care for her father. While there, she reconnects with the man she divorced over ten years ago and finds herself welcomed into his family life by him and his wife. But when a new man enters Ivona’s life, the trio’s carefully curated dynamic is disrupted, forcing a reckoning for all involved.

Slanting Towards the Sea explores what it means to come of age in a country younger than oneself, as it sets a sensual, decades-long love story against an emerging Croatia.

‘With illuminating prose and gripping storytelling, Lidija Hilje ascertains her place as an exciting new voice in world’s literature. Slanting Towards the Sea is a love letter to Croatia and to anyone who dares to dream.’ Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

‘Oh, what a beautiful book this is–deeply felt, humane, gorgeously written. Hilje’s prose is positively hypnotic–I sunk in and didn’t want to come up for air.’ Claire Lombardo

©2025 Lidija Hilje (P)2025 W.F. Howes Ltd Coming of Age Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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Slanting Towards the Sea is an immersive novel that leans into the complexity of ordinary lives in motion. The imagery is vivid and atmospheric, grounding the reader in place while the characters themselves feel fluid, evolving, and deeply real.

Beautifully written

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Novel could do with some sharp editing. At times the novel was quite monotonous, repetitive and overly melodramatic. There were however some beautiful lines of writing especially describing the Dalmatian coast.

Beautiful setting but the novel felt repetitive

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This book is a roller coaster where the protagonist can only see the world and her choices through her eyes. There were so many parts where I found myself commenting out loud telling her to just shut up. She created the narrative through her behaviours yet she blamed others for her life. In the second half of the book, I became engaged in the narrative again but it fell away towards the end where I was again irritated by the extreme egocentric view of the main character. I guess though , I persevered!
Two stars.

Irritating selfish protagonist will drive you insane!

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