Bronwyn Birdsall
Bronwyn is an award-winning writer and an editor.
Her first novel Time and Tide in Sarajevo was published by Affirm Press in 2022 and was shortlisted for the 2023 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Inspired by the years she lived in Sarajevo, the novel was the culmination of over a decade of developing her practice.
She is working on her second novel - about food, love & family, set in her hometown of Sydney.
Time and Tide in Sarajevo
Evelyn is teaching English in Sarajevo. Over the course of a few days, the novel follows her as she faces an impossible decision, one that puts her students’ ambitions and her friendships at risk. Gripping and heartfelt, Time and Tide in Sarajevo asks: how do we find hope in a world that feels beyond repair?
“A fascinating perspective of life and culture in post-war Sarajevo, along with a compelling touch of political intrigue. A warm yet gripping read from a new voice in Australian fiction.”
“This novel’s portrait of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is imagined from experience. Bronwyn Birdsall lived there in the aftermath of the extended siege and horrific war crimes committed during the ’90s, as does her protagonist Evelyn.
Time and Tide in Sarajevo is elegant and finely wrought, achieving an intimate sense of place before ramping up the suspense.”
Book Trailer by Elliott Magen
“This literary novel reads like a thriller – keeping us on the edge of our seat – as we hold out hope for Evelyn’s young students, whose futures could be so bright. Exquisitely written and perfectly paced.”
“In Time and Tide in Sarajevo, Bronwyn Birdsall constructs an intricate world, where old pain and contemporary frustration ignite and hope and despair are tightly woven. A tinderbox of a novel. Finely-crafted and absorbing.”
“Time and Tide in Sarajevo hooked me from page one. Bronwyn Birdsall has written a triumph of a book – a tender, careful, beautiful love letter to a city and its people that grapples with belonging and the possibility of repair. I couldn’t put this page-turner down!”
“Some writers sew their care and craft into every sentence and Bronwyn Birdsall is one of those. An excellent debut.”
“A fine thread of tension and mystery binds this beautiful story. Time and Tide in Sarajevo is both fascinating and touching, encompassing lovely details of life in Sarajevo.”
“A vivid and compelling novel that goes right to the beating heart of modern-day Sarajevo.”