Lidija Hilje

Spanning twenty years and one life-altering summer in Croatia, Slanting Towards the Sea is at once an unforgettable love story and a powerful exploration of what it means to come of age in a country younger than oneself.

Ivona divorced the love of her life, Vlaho, a decade ago. They met as students at the turn of the new millennium, when democratic Croatia was alive with hope and promise. But the challenges of living in a burgeoning country extinguished Ivona’s dreams one after another—and a devastating secret forced her to set him free.

Now Vlaho is remarried and a proud father of two, while Ivona’s life has taken a downward turn. In her thirties, she has returned to her childhood home to care for her ailing father. Bewildered by life’s disappointments, she finds solace in reconnecting with Vlaho and is welcomed into his family by his spirited new wife, Marina. But when a new man enters Ivona’s life, the carefully cultivated dynamic between the three is disrupted, forcing a reckoning for all involved.

Set against the mesmerizing Croatian coastline, Slanting Towards the Sea is a cinematic, emotionally searing debut about the fragile nature of potential and the transcendence of love.

“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

“Artful, intensely moving, and unforgettable in every way.” —Thao Thai

“Fans of Rachel Cusk will love this.” — Publishers Weekly

A Novel

Slanting Towards the Sea

g.m.

“Seasons,” I say. “That its forever changing, but always stays the same. That it makes you feel alive like nothing else can. That’s what I love about this place” 

“You’ve told me so many things, but none of it is recent history”

“I can feel myself expanding to inhabit my own body more fully, closer to the edges of my skin, where I haven’t been in a while.” (Ivona, p207)

“Don’t know what to make of it. Either it’s the most self-less thing anyone’s ever done or … An act of total cowardice” (Asier on Ivona’s decision to leave Vlaho, p208)

Have I not been just as inflexible and unmalleable as Dad? It occurs to me that this is the exact aspect of Asier that I couldn’t pin down. That he is not superficial or depthless, but he is adaptable. He takes like as it comes to him with such ease, and I keep getting pulled into the undertow with each new wave because I refuse to roll with the surf. (Ivona, p233)

“I’m sorry I’ve been like this …. Difficult. Fickle. I’m just… this is a hard time for me”. Which is only partly true. Because I’m always like this. Overthinking. Overfeeling. Overreacting. I’m an uncovered nerve and everything touches me, everything causes me pain. Even pleasure does. Even love.

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