I. Nikolina Mesić
Invisible Beauty is the debut novel of the author who writes under the pseudonym Rose L. Harper. Behind this pen name stands Branka Martinović, a Master of Economics, analyst of social trends, and writer. Introducing her to a wider audience, Đuro Vidmarović notes that she belongs to the younger generation of literary talents emerging from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author herself was born in Vareš. To date, she has published two novels: Invisible Beauty (2020) and The Gift (2022), both released by the Split-based publishing house Naklada Bošković.
In Invisible Beauty, the author, through the story of human trafficking, also offers a narrative about interpersonal relationships, identity, love, forgiveness, hope, and strength. “The novel is, above all and beyond all else, a book about God’s love, and it bears living and credible witness to how both the individual and society degrade and morally disintegrate when they reject divine values,” writes Marito Mihovil Letica. In the foreword to her first novel, the author herself states: “A person must know their identity. They must know who they are and where they are going in order to shape their life correctly.”
It is precisely this sentence that can be seen as a connecting thread between the two novels, Invisible Beauty and The Gift, as in the latter as well we encounter the inner struggles of the protagonist, Jakov Petrić. These struggles profoundly shape him, define his identity, and reveal both to those around him and to himself who and what kind of man he truly is.
Jakov Petrić is a highly successful and morally principled thirty-nine-year-old man employed in the business consulting industry. “Jakov worked extensively, yet he managed to protect and preserve the core of his business grounded in morality and honesty. He had no intention of selling illusions either to his clients or on behalf of his clients to any third party. He was a man who believed that every accepted project leaves a personal imprint on society, and he wanted that imprint to be Good.”
It is therefore unusual that such a businessman, at the very beginning of the novel, changes his place of residence and moves from the dynamic City to a small rural settlement, the much quieter Valley.
“When he left the City, he did not leave because he wanted to stop working. He left because he wanted to distance himself from the multitude of written reminders of people he had met only once in his life, yet who recommended themselves for remembrance. He left because he wanted to move away from empty marketing presentations and positioning of various personality cults that tried to convince everyone around them that they were irreplaceable.”
In the Valley, he meets people with whom he forms close relationships; with each of them he shares a segment of his life, and each of these relationships in the novel serves as a means of articulating certain thoughts and ideas. Thus, for example, in the conversations between Jakov and his neighbor Filip, a restaurateur, the author’s familiarity with entrepreneurship, economics, and current social developments comes to the fore. Jakov and Filip recognize the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century as a time in which products are no longer accompanied by a story, but instead by an ideology that sells the product—and, more dangerously, which the consumer then purchases along with it. The ultimate aim of such developments is sterility. “Even the products they manufacture have become sterile. All right, that is certainly because a vast share of technological devices is involved, and they are inherently somewhat sterile, but that is not all. The entire approach to business has changed. That is what I have observed, in a layman’s way, through advertisements,” Filip adds. “You have observed correctly. The goal or outcome is sterility—to enter a sterile apartment, drive a sterile car, speak to a sterile device, and maintain sterile relationships that evolve into a sterile marriage. Instead of the juice they produce being the focus, ideology is sold, and the juice is merely an add-on.”
Furthermore, in a conversation with Father Domagoj, Jakov reveals a family tragedy that caused him to live for a long time with a deeply rooted sense of guilt. This conversation spans one of the longest chapters in the novel, the second longest, and is of exceptional importance because it opens questions that every person encounters in moments when the weight of the cross presses heavily upon them. Over a game of chess, the two discuss the difference between longing and sorrow, the “right” of a person to tears (“If tears were not sometimes necessary for us, God would not have given them to us”), the dangers and pitfalls of the New Age movement, which seeks to replace Catholic hope grounded in Christ’s Resurrection, as well as acceptance of the cross, death, and ultimately resurrection: “The Resurrection and eternal life are irrefutable truths. The end of earthly life is not the end. (…) We are to blame if we are in despair, and we are in despair because we have rejected the only thing that protects us from despair, and that is the Resurrection.”
The main plot of the novel is in fact tied to Jakov’s family past and family secrets. One part of that past is revealed through an episode in which the author introduces a story of love, of choosing the right path in life, of decisions that are unimaginably difficult to make yet unavoidable, of misunderstanding, stubbornness, pride, anger, lost time, and ultimately forgiveness.
Speaking about this part of the novel, editor Rudolf Ćurković wrote: “Following the lives of the characters, one can discern that they are all open to Life, even when they do not act in accordance with it.”
The second part of the family past is revealed through an anonymous letter that arrives at Jakov’s new address:
“Dear Mr. Petrić, I should introduce myself to you, but my name will remain hidden, at least for now. I hope you will not consider this letter cruel, although my words will be such. I know they will cut a deep furrow. As it is written in Holy Scripture: ‘Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be known,’ and so I wish to reveal to you a long-concealed secret about your family. I wish to explain to you what happened in 1992 to your parents, Josip and Elena Petrić.”
In his search for the truth about his parents’ deaths, whom he believed had died in an accident, Jakov Petrić uncovers details that lead him all the way to financial malfeasance, namely money laundering through prenatal diagnostics, the abortion industry, and artificial fertilization. On that path, he chooses not to take revenge into his own hands: he does not seek vengeance, but a better world, and therefore decides to act through state institutions and a criminal complaint that, in this case, would serve as a remedy—and thus a good deed. It would be an act of justice, and for justice and peace one must fight. Perhaps this would be the beginning of a process of societal purification, a small contribution toward it.
Speaking about the title of the novel, Rudolf Ćurković notes that the title The Gift does not refer to only one gift. And indeed, the author reminds the reader that everything in life is a gift, and that every life is a gift, which is why she is deeply engaged with questions such as: What is the price of life? Is a human being truly a human being—a being desired by God with inherent human dignity—or merely a target for elimination? Ultimately, the author affirms a great Christian truth: life becomes the greatest and most exalted gift when it is given for another.
The author describes her novel as a family saga of love, friendship, loss, the struggle for good, and perseverance.
Indeed, The Gift engages with numerous themes and domains, and the reader is invited to pause and reflect on their own role and responsibility in the world in which they live, for although the novel by Rose L. Harper is a work of fiction, it is, as the author emphasizes, inspired by true events.
However, it would be interesting, in some future creative endeavor—which will undoubtedly follow—to see how the author would handle a work focused on a single theme, developed in all its complexity and presented to the reader in its full depth. In such a way, individual dialogues could evolve into complex discussions that would leave more room for the questioning of different perspectives, rather than occasionally sounding like excerpts from previously read articles.
Let this suggestion serve as an encouragement and challenge to the young and talented author in her future, undoubtedly successful, work.
II. Zrinka Martinić
The Gift could alternatively be titled Three Gifts.
The second novelistic work by the established Croatian writer Rose L. Harper (The Gift, published in late 2022) radiates a vital life force, so necessary in these turbulent times.
It is an easy read, even though it engages with serious themes such as outdated communist-era crimes committed in pursuit of material gain, the creation of artificial life as a new form of human trafficking, and the denial of the right to life in the form of abortion—all of this woven into a family story that, admittedly, could be encountered on any meridian of the world. Yet this particular narrative is told in a distinctive manner characteristic of the author: every life situation is deeply considered, presented with argumentation, and yet imbued with lyricism and color through which the lives of her original characters are expressed.
The central figure of this novel is Jakov Petrić, a young widower who lives life to the fullest, striving to shape it in the best possible way by using his newly discovered talents, which he will, in the form of three gifts, leave as his legacy. He is surrounded by interesting neighbors, good people, and friends, among them a priest, as well as two pairs of grandparents who hold him in high regard. And although the novel ends with the death of the protagonist—who gives his life while saving a young boy—from that death emerge many forms of good, and through them Jakov becomes unforgettable. He walked the earth doing good and did not live small under the stars…
Naturally, this novel as well, with its elements of crime fiction, is permeated by love, good interpersonal relationships, and faith in God—and also in people, from whom, no matter how much evil they commit, the author always manages to draw out at least a good, if sometimes less visible, side of their personality. It resembles a mosaic that gradually takes shape, until each of its small stones finds the place assigned to it.
The novel is structured into thirty-three chapters, which in itself is already symbolic, and each chapter begins either with a biblical quotation or one of the author’s own. The author’s life orientations—economics and literature—are harmoniously combined into a highly interesting whole, both through the characters and through parallel narrative threads. For example, the description of a beaver colony also highlights its valuable contribution to ecology and sustainable development. Also emphasized is the author’s connection with the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, who, in an excellent and original way, with much love and understanding, educate generations of children and young people who grow into close, hardworking, and honest individuals—so greatly needed in this suffering land of ours.
The author states at the beginning that this work is fiction, though inspired by true events, and dedicates the book “to those who leave a trace in another person’s life without ever reading about it.” For such people this beautiful book is intended—a book that will bring both tears and smiles, and ultimately leave the reader happy and proud to have read it.
Translated from original Croatian version.
roselharper.com 