About the book:
Dispatches from the frontiers of love
Katia and Goran are in love. Tyler is in therapy. On a summer trip to Zagreb, the couple discover an unusual museum—a museum that displays mementos of broken relationships. Inside, Goran stumbles upon an exhibit that seems to be addressed to him, from a girl he met in a Sarajevo refugee camp at age fourteen. What follows is a whirlwind summer of reconnecting with lost pasts: Goran confronts the youth he lost during the Yugoslav Wars, Katia heads to Brazil to find her roots, and Afghanistan veteran Tyler pours out his soul. Set against alternating backdrops of violent circumstances, this novel is a soulful testament to the uncontainable flourishing of the human heart.
Purchase The Museum of Lost Love here: https://bookshop.org/a/147/9781642860429
Endorsements:
“Should be mandatory for anyone who has had or contemplated having a relationship… absolutely beautiful.” Georgina Godwin, Host, Monocle Radio’s Meet the Writers
“This haunting novel centres around moving exhibits in the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb… Wonderful.” The Daily Mail (UK)
“War and love are eternal subjects of literature. Therefore, writing about it requires not only a brave, but also skillful writer. Using “The Museum of Lost Love” as his frame and mixing documents and stories, Gary Barker found an interesting way to connect his lovers over time and continents, telling about their moving, hopeless, tragic but also fulfilling struggle for love.” Slavenka Drakulic, author of “As If I Am Not There” and writer for The Guardian
“Showcasing author Gary Barker’s genuine flair for originality and an impressively effective and deftly compelling narrative storytelling style, “The Museum of Lost Love” is certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections.” Midwest Book Review
“This is a compassionate, thoughtful and layered book that makes for an intriguing read.” Jude Kelly, OBE, Director, Women of the World Foundation
“The emotional heft of The Museum of Lost Love is obvious from the first page and never lets up. The characters breathe, they love, they mourn. They stay with you.” Jennifer Fox, Writer/Director/Producer of the award-winning film The Tale
“Gary Barker writes as beautifully and efficiently as any writer I’ve read–not an unnecessary sentence in the entire book. He is Hemingway without the false macho energy, and The Museum of Lost Love is an extraordinary testament to the enduring power of our pasts.” Richard Reyes-Gavilan, Executive Director, Washington, DC Public Libraries
“The past haunts the present in this fragmented novel about young men and women trying to recapture lost relationships. These interconnected stories are both achingly affecting and archly realistic. A moving book about young survivors of armed—and especially unarmed—conflict.” Kirkus Review
“Inspired by an actual museum in Croatia, in his Museum of Lost Love Gary Barker brings to life an ensemble of characters striving to express love, kindness, bravery and integrity in a world where war, genocide, rape, torture and trauma prevail. At a time when ugliness and despair threaten the most resolute faith, Barker brings us a moral tale that contrasts the high and the low roads. In the end, as he follows several men and women to stirring resolutions, we are, somehow, both gripped by their tragedies and uplifted by their humanity.” – Michael Reichert, author of “How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Raise Good Men.”
Learn more about the book here: https://www.worldeditions.org/product/the-museum-of-lost-love/
Release date: October 1st, 2019
For press and bookstore inquiries, contact: Christine Swedowsky at c.swedowsky@worldeditions.org
Gary Barker 