Život i smrt Milana Junaka (The Life and Death of Milan Junak*) is the first and critically acclaimed novel by Vojislav Pejovic, a Chicago-based author born in Montenegro.

The novel is based on the premise of a found manuscript, Milan Junak's diary. The diary covers the period Dec 1990 – Oct 1991, during which his country, Yugoslavia, will begin its descent into a civil war that will claim over 150,000 lives and permanently drive over 1 million people out of their homes.

In December 1990, Milan refuses to acknowledge the gathering storm; his main preoccupation is his girlfriend, who left without a trace, except for a brief good-bye letter. The events that signalled the unraveling of Yugoslavia will soon start screaming for attention, but Milan, a sensitive youth and soldier of the heart, will prove too busy to hear the screams.

The novel is currently being translated by Janja Pavetic-Dickey; selected chapters can be found here.

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* The word junak - in the language nowadays referred to as Serbian, Croatian, Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, or Montenegrin - denotes a hero.