I. Ella Hasel
Invisible Beauty by Rose L. Harper is a true breath of fresh air on the literary scene.
This is the kind of novel you devour in a single sitting, yet one that lingers in your mind, urging you to reflect and raising profound questions about love, morality, loyalty, and power.
The narrative is constructed with remarkable finesse—chapters alternate between the present (2013) and the past (1993, in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina), allowing the author to build tension with precision while gradually unveiling the secrets that bind the characters together. This structure is not merely stylistic; it is deeply purposeful. Through the lens of past events, we slowly uncover the motives and true identities of the characters in the present, creating a constant sense of suspense and an almost irresistible need to understand how everything unraveled—and why. Harper masterfully balances these two realities, fusing them into a single, cohesive, and compelling narrative.
She brings together what might seem incompatible at first glance: a love story intertwined with the shadowy world of intelligence agencies, politics, and behind-the-scenes maneuvering. The characters are layered and authentic, their dilemmas profoundly human—inviting readers not just to follow the story, but to wrestle with it.
Does good always triumph over evil? How far is a person willing to go to protect those they love? And can betrayal ever truly be forgiven?
Despite its thematic complexity, the prose remains fluid, elegant, and highly readable, making the book accessible to a wide audience. Each page reveals something new, holds your attention, and all but insists you keep turning the pages.
This novel is an ideal choice for readers who crave emotionally charged suspense, unexpected twists, and stories that stay with you long after the final page. Invisible Beauty stands as a reminder that truth often lies beneath the surface—unseen, yet profoundly powerful. A warm recommendation to anyone in search of a gripping, emotional, and thought-provoking story that leaves a lasting impression.
II. Josip Vajdner
What Lies Behind Invisible Beauty?
Every human being is, on a daily basis, confronted with a new test of their humanity and fidelity to God and to their own convictions. This is especially true in today’s world, where everything, it seems, has become a commodity to be traded—human beings included. The novel Invisible Beauty addresses this reality from the perspective of a Croatian woman born in Bosnia.
The publishing house Bošković from Split published, in January 2020, a novel released under the pseudonym Rose L. Harper, behind which stands the Master of Economics Branka Martinović. The work appears in the Contemporary Prose series, edited by Mario Blagaić. The title itself—Invisible Beauty—will naturally evoke associations with immaterial reality and point toward the spiritual dimension of beauty (which, ultimately, it indeed does), yet it conceals an intricate and gripping narrative told in the first person, originating from the world of intelligence services, and whose true structure is only revealed to the main characters at the very end of the plot.
“A Novel of Faith in God”
In essence, this is a work through which a practical and simple faith in God is expressed at its core—a faith that shapes the lives of Croatian Catholics born in Central Bosnia. Life is meant to be lived as it is given to us. Through our free decisions, guided by faith in God, we shape it; and the framework of life in which we move—this gift entrusted to us—should be used as an encouragement toward what is good,” the author writes in the foreword, where she explains how the story…
The novel, which spans 310 pages, “is not solely war-related or traumatic in nature, but rather includes only minor yet significant narrative segments that serve to give coherence to the whole, which is oriented toward hope and subsequent action” (p. 11).
In addition to the foreword, the novel is divided into two parts, followed by an epilogue. Although some may argue that the narrative structure is somewhat disruptive—interrupted by temporal shifts across different stages of the protagonist Lucija Šimić’s life—it remains easy to follow, since before each thematic unit there appears, in the style of diary entries, the corresponding month and year.
Introduction to Extraordinary Events
Thus, in the first part, events from the beginning of the war in Central Bosnia are interwoven, where Croats in 1993 experienced an attack by Muslim forces, alongside the period of 2013, when the main heroine, after her family’s flight to Croatia, completes her university studies. This serves as an introduction to the complex developments of the second part of the narrative, which combines fiction and real events. The main heroine explains her situation prior to the onset of life’s real upheavals:
“After the initial nervousness and difficulty… I began to feel like Elijah on Mount Horeb, or like Peter, James, and John during the Transfiguration. It was a good preparation for what awaited me” (p. 97).
“Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also”
What awaited her, however, was an unsuspected world of human trafficking—ordinarily unknown to most people, or at least to those not directly involved. She joins an agency engaged in prevention, analysis, and monitoring of potential criminal activities conducted under the guise of economic operations. “Honestly, I was deeply disturbed when I discovered what kind of information the agency had access to and how it was obtained, and I was equally disturbed when I began to analyze it myself,” the protagonist explains her work (p. 146), a world that also involves the Albanian mafia, particularly through so-called “Swiss connections” linked to the Croatian Matić family, specifically Luka.
“In that operation, something was clearly not right. That was when I realized I would no longer need to pretend; I had fallen into the very trap I had set myself. Thus, Luka Matić became, for me, the Luka I had loved” (p. 203).
At the same time, Lucija is faced with choices that reveal the moral foundation of her life. She also comes to understand what it means to live a sacramental life, especially through the grace of the Sacrament of Confession.
She encounters a world marked by the darkest human actions. “Even then, I was still haunted by photographs of children from earlier cases (…) Children were taken from their homes and placed onto the streets of foreign cities, where men and women line up to make use of their services—men and women who could have been their fathers and mothers” (p. 249).
In such an environment, and through her dynamic encounters with the secondary protagonist Luka, the novel ultimately reveals the origin of the pseudonym under which the author wrote the entire work—a narrative worth reading not only for its plot, but for its call to moral awareness, the formation of a rightly ordered conscience, and vigilance against the sin that cries out to heaven: human trafficking.
III. Anđelko Bošnjak
Invisible Beauty depicts one of the contemporary battlefields between the forces of good and evil in today’s world. Behind the glitter, entertainment, and endless abundance lies another reality—one of the kidnapped, the imprisoned, and the exploited, along with their ruthless captors and masters. The struggle between these forces unfolds almost in a parallel reality, yet the protagonist’s journey suggests that any one of us ordinary people may be called to take part in it, because perhaps we are not as ordinary as we think.
The author skillfully interweaves autobiographical and fictional elements throughout the novel. Presenting her journey from the war years and her escape from central Bosnia as a young girl, while simultaneously returning to present-day events, she continually takes the reader on a journey through time. The vivid depictions of wartime experiences from a child’s perspective are not intended to evoke pity for the author, but rather to present war as a universal human tragedy. That same girl grows into a young woman who continues to reveal her inner world to the reader, courageously disclosing the details of her personality and the ways in which she confronts the world and new life challenges.
It is precisely these personal traits that lead the author to be drawn into the battle between good and evil, a calling that marks her transformation into a fictional character. Given her education, analytical mindset, and discipline, she is recruited as a financial analyst within an investigation into a human trafficking network. An ordinary young woman is thus confronted with the unfathomable depths of human corruption and greed, as well as the suffering of its victims and the brutality of this distorted reality. Yet her courageous confrontation with all the unsettling experiences she must endure is ultimately rewarded with significant success.
This novel offers an intriguing story of a covert international investigation, but it is also given a distinct additional dimension. Throughout the narrative, the author emphasizes her Catholic faith and the central role it plays in her life, both in its autobiographical and fictional strands. Certain events connected to the novel’s protagonist echo the great narratives of significant figures in the Bible. A key motif is the personal path that those chosen for particular roles must undergo. This path offers a complete portrait of the protagonist, showing her rises and falls, as well as the way in which seemingly unrelated events can serve as preparation for a role that has been assigned to her. The sudden and unexpected nature of the calling in the case of the heroine is also characteristic of many biblical figures. The Bible tells stories of small and ordinary people who achieve extraordinary deeds. And finally, one profoundly important biblical message is that persistent endurance through hardship, sustained by the inner strength drawn from faith in God, is always ultimately rewarded.
The great biblical narratives and their motifs offer profound messages to all of humanity, and they can be understood and applied to one’s personal life even by those who are not believers. The fact that these messages can be discerned in Invisible Beauty gives the text a lasting value and stands as a testament to the author’s integrity as both a believer and a storyteller.
IV. Marito Mihovil Letica
Invisible Beauty is the debut novel by the author writing under the pseudonym Rose L. Harper. It was published by Naklada Bošković in Split in 2020.
Written in the first person, the novel addresses human trafficking and its impact on society. These immoral and criminal practices—where a human being becomes a commodity and a means of enrichment for exploiters and profiteers—gain particular momentum in the turmoil of migration caused by wars, such as the ongoing conflict raging in Ukraine. One of the novel’s strengths lies in its authentic concreteness, which nevertheless carries universal validity and applicability.
The narrative follows the life journey of a young girl, from her escape from war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, through her upbringing and education, to completing her university studies in 2013 with highest distinction, and eventually becoming a financial analyst in an international human trafficking investigation. The novel takes us on a journey from Bosnia and Croatia, through Italy and Switzerland, to the United States, skillfully intertwining reality and fiction, different dimensions, and the various registers of complex human relationships with others and with society.
Above all, the novel is also a book about God’s love, bearing a living and credible witness to how both the individual and society degrade and morally self-destruction when they abandon divine values. Invisible Beauty, through difficult and somber life situations, radiates Christian hope—lifting the reader beyond lived experience into vast horizons of beauty, truth, and goodness; demonstrating how the New Testament, John’s exhortation that a Christian must be “in the world, but not of the world” is made present and enacted in today’s profoundly secularized society.
The reader actively participates in the search for answers to unavoidable, timeless, and universally human questions: What is love? Is good always victorious over evil? Does betrayal deserve forgiveness? What is a person willing to do to protect those they love? What would happen if Truth were to disappear?
A well-structured composition, dynamic narrative, and elegant literary style are the defining qualities of Invisible Beauty, making it worthy of praise and a strong recommendation for readers.
V. s. Maja Ribić, a Carmelite Sister of the Divine Heart of Jesus
I am deeply moved by books that continue to stir reflection even after I set them aside.
Not only because of the plot or a character with whom I might identify, but because of a theme—or a passage—that genuinely touches something deeper within me and draws me into prayer. One such book is Invisible Beauty by Branka Martinović. The encounter with this book itself was quite remarkable.
I decided to spend part of my annual vacation in one of our monasteries on the Adriatic coast. Since there were several sisters there on retreat, and the monastery was short one room, they placed an extra bed in the monastic library. I cannot describe the joy I felt when I realized that the library itself would be my room. Ideal for a book lover like me.
Before even unpacking my things, I opened all the bookshelves and began searching for a book—or several books—that would accompany me over the next week. I had also brought four books from Zagreb, because one can never have too many books. While carefully examining the titles, Invisible Beauty caught my attention. It was described as a novel—something “light,” I thought, just right for a vacation read.
When I began reading it, I realized the subject matter was anything but light. Yet I was drawn in by the author’s style and the narrative itself, to the point that I could not put it down. I even brought it with me to the beach.
The novel deals with the subject of human trafficking, the destructive vice of gambling and betting, and seeks to make us aware of how present this evil is within our society. Although the plot is fictional, the reality remains that this subject matter is very much present, and evil can so easily be camouflaged under various disguises—even under the appearance of so-called good and social assistance.
I began to pray for all those who exploit the innocent and the vulnerable in order to gain perishable wealth, as well as for those who too readily accept tempting offers of easy money and quick profit. We are all in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. We pray, too, for the light of the Holy Spirit, that we may recognize what the Lord is asking of us and courageously fulfill the will He sets before us.
The author, Branka, has recognized this divine prompting and speaks to what our society often wishes to conceal. We need courageous souls who will clearly affirm that every human life is a gift from God, and that true joy in life consists in living according to the moral law that the Lord God has inscribed into our very being.
I warmly recommend reading this book.
Translated from original Croatian version.
roselharper.com 