The Women Upstairs

DEBUT NOVEL

The Women Upstairs – an intimate novel that questions the boundaries within us

Price: 17,10 €

The novel The Women Upstairs explores the deep emotions of its characters and the reasons behind them, bringing the issue of femicide to the surface and questioning where our inner boundaries lie. Boldly and courageously, it disrupts elements of the classical novelistic structure, fragments the reader’s stream of consciousness, and openly interrogates intimacy and awareness by placing femicide in medias res, thus enabling a dense, immersive reading experience and an invitation to read oneself through one’s own lens.

In this novel, you will read about the lives of six women connected by a shared setting and a single person. Along the way, you will question what feels familiar and why, while discovering elements that restore awareness and self-compassion. This is a story of desire, love, emotions, life’s burdens and passions, violence and masks—and all of it is placed in relation to the self and to relationships with others. The Women Upstairs ultimately poses the question: are you tenants in your own lives?

Reviews and Reflections

Nataša Jukić

Review

Izidora Kovač

Review

Željka Babić

Review

Mia Jozić

Review

Andrea Turić

Review

Reading The Women Upstairs was an experience in itself. Immersing myself in the characters and the plot led me into a very special world—partly my own inner world—and for me, that is the most valuable part of the book. I recognized a small part of myself in every female character, while at the same time questioning my own attitudes toward life.

Danijela

A biiiiig bravo for the book—it’s brilliant. The way you developed each character is excellent, peeling off their layers one by one and ultimately leaving them completely bare. A fantastic narrative style, with elements of crime fiction. I truly enjoyed it. And I laughed out loud a few times, too.

Milena

The Women Upstairs is fantastic. Intriguing. Gentle and powerful. It is… just right.

Nataša

My dear, I’ve read The Women Upstairs, and I needed some time for it to settle so I could put my impressions into words. The part of me that holds a degree in comparative literature appreciated the technical aspects—the writing style, the characters, the subtext, and that kind of ending—while the part of me that loves Agatha Christie was screaming for resolution, wanting to know what happened to all the characters afterward, craving catharsis. From a literary standpoint, it’s done in a very interesting way. Congratulations! But I want a happy ending, I want a sequel… Thank you for the novel, for its depth!

Mihaela

As I read, one realization kept imposing itself: intelligent women shout in the voices they are able to shout with when they are unhappy, because they choose not to remain silent—they choose themselves. Only Tena has no voice, and we could even conclude that she is happy, but I think it is the narrator who speaks about her—a male narrator—because if it were female, her voice would be heard too.

Leo

I finished your book The Women Upstairs this morning. I stretched it out for as long as I could, because once I realized how important, rich, and full of images and colors every sentence is, I didn’t want to read it hastily or superficially. The way you masterfully portrayed these women—oh my! How alive each of them is, and in every one I find a small fragment of myself, and I came to love them all, even when they are awful, pitiful, and messed up. I love books written in a skillful language, with unexpected metaphors, that clearly show the truth even when it’s uncomfortable—those are my favorites. And I find all of that in this beautiful work you’ve written. Near the end, I realized how terribly afraid I was of the approaching resolution, bargaining with myself over whom I could bear for you to “kill” at the end, and whom I absolutely wanted to stay alive—and somehow I couldn’t sacrifice a single one of your women. All the more so, the ending completely floored me. And it left a very strong impression on me.

Petra

The Women Upstairs in media

Knjizevnopero.hr

“And when a woman becomes a wolf to another woman, it hurts—and many women and men alike may empathize with these women.”

Knjiški-recenzeraj.com

“In my opinion, The Women Upstairs should be included on the required reading list for high schools.”

Knjige-u-svom-filmu

“The novel explores the deep emotions of its characters and questions where the boundaries within us lie.”

Čitajknjigu.com

„After the first few pages, I just could not stop reading.“

Stilueta.net

“The novel boldly and courageously disrupts elements of the classical novelistic structure.”

Poslušajte TAKO DOBRO!

“We talked about my novel The Women Upstairs, about literature, about writing…”

KroBuk Club

“We talked about my novel Podstanarke, about literature, about writing…”