Speak, Silence is a lyrical, emotionally charged novel set in the shadow of the Bosnian war. Eleven years after a passionate year in Paris with Kosmos, journalist Gota travels to a Sarajevo film festival in 1999, hoping to reconnect with him and report on a country struggling to rebuild.
What she finds is a man, and a nation, irrevocably changed. Through Kosmos she meets Edina, a formidable lawyer he has always loved. As Gota navigates her complicated feelings, she forms an unexpected bond with Edina and a community of women who survived systematic sexual violence during the conflict.
Drawn into their fight for justice, Gota journeys with these survivors to The Hague, where their testimony will help shape international law and redefine how wartime crimes against women are seen and prosecuted. The stories she records reshape her understanding of love, loyalty, and responsibility.
Written in Kim Echlin’s luminous prose, Speak, Silence explores the cost of silence, the courage to speak, and the power of a resilient sisterhood determined to be heard.
- Literary novel set in post-war Sarajevo and The Hague
- Themes of trauma, justice, memory, and women’s solidarity
- Inspired by a landmark real-life war crimes trial