“The climax at the end, with several exceptionally powerful scenes depicting the destruction of a persons frantic and frail humanity, can be compared, when it comes to the amount of suffering, callousness, and humiliation of oneself and others, to the films of Lars von Trier.” Croatian National Radio

With Water, Spiderweb, Nada Gašić cements her reputation as both a spellbinding author and a remarkable chronicler of the city she calls home: Zagreb, Croatia. This literary noir is set in motion by the historic 1964 Sava River flood that runs through the lives, and generations, of an eccentric cast of marginalized characters, from a mentally ill man who channels the Virgin Mary to three sisters cast from a disfigured version of the Cinderella fairy tale. This novel is not so much about crimes committed but rather the questions around why these crimes are committed, on an individual level and on a societal level.

In piecing together the clues that may or may not answer these questions, Gašić makes clear that we are the ones responsible for the circumstances.

After a prominent career as an editor, at the age of 57, Nada Gašić published her first novel, Mirna ulica, drvored, for which she was awarded the Slavić Prize for best debut novel, and in 2010 she published Voda, Paučina (Water, Spiderweb), which was awarded the City of Zagreb Prize and the Vladimir Nazor Award. Zagreb serves as a central character in her novels Devet života gospođe Adele (2020) and Četiri plamena, led (2024). Gašić has also published a collection of short stories, Posljednje što su vidjele (2022).

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