12 Best Books About Croatia to Read Before Your Trip

The 12 books about Croatia worth reading before a first trip are 4 novels set in Croatia, 3 memoirs and essay collections, 3 Croatian history books and 2 current guidebooks, each listed below with its author, its first publication year, its translator where the book came from Croatian, and the traveller it suits. The list mixes Croatian literature in English translation, such as Robert Perišić, Olja Savičević and Slavenka Drakulić, with foreign authors who wrote about the country, such as Rebecca West, Aminatta Forna and Marcus Tanner. Start with Benjamin Curtis’s “A Traveller’s History of Croatia” if you have time for only 1 book, because it covers the history in the fewest pages; read 1 or 2 more and you will recognise Zagreb’s streets, the Dalmatian coast and the traces of the Homeland War (the Croatian War of Independence, 1991-1995) when you see them.

The 12 Books About Croatia at a Glance

The 12 books are listed in the table below in the order they appear in this guide.

Best Fiction Books Set in Croatia

The 4 novels set in Croatia below take you to wartime Zagreb, a village in the hills, a Zagreb newsroom in 2003 and a small town on the Dalmatian coast, and 2 of them are Croatian literature in English translation.

Girl at War by Sara Nović (2015)

“Girl at War” is Sara Nović’s debut novel and the story of Ana Jurić, a carefree 10-year-old in Zagreb whose childhood ends in 1991 when the Homeland War (the Croatian War of Independence, 1991-1995) reaches the city. “Girl at War” follows Ana through warfare and child soldiers to an escape to America, and then, 10 years later, from her college life in Manhattan back to a Croatia she has to face alone.

Random House published the novel in 2015. It received the American Library Association’s Alex Award in 2016, given to adult books with strong appeal for teenage readers, and it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Nović grew up between the United States and Croatia. Pick this novel if you want the war seen through a child’s eyes; it is not a light read. Get “Girl at War” on Amazon.

The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna (2013)

“The Hired Man” is Aminatta Forna’s novel about Duro Kolak, a hunter and handyman in the fictional Croatian town of Gost, whose summer of 2007 changes when an English family moves into the long-abandoned house nearby. “The Hired Man” follows Laura, who bought the house and hires Duro for the repairs, her 2 children and the locals who keep their distance, while Duro’s memories of the house’s previous occupants and the town’s wartime past surface one layer at a time.

Bloomsbury published the novel in 2013 (304 pages), and Forna, a Scottish-Sierra Leonean writer, won a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize the following year. Choose this novel if you prefer to meet the war’s aftermath through fiction; it is quiet, tense and one of the strongest modern novels set in Croatia. Get “The Hired Man” on Amazon.

Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perišić (2007, English translation 2012)

“Our Man in Iraq” is Robert Perišić’s satirical novel about a young Zagreb newspaper editor who sends his cousin to cover the 2003 Iraq war, then writes the dispatches himself when the cousin goes quiet, while his relationship with his actress girlfriend comes apart. “Our Man in Iraq” is set in Zagreb in 2003 and shows post-war Croatia in its early capitalist years, with nepotism, media life and the hangover of the Yugoslav wars in the background.

Perišić, born in Split in 1969, first published the book in Croatian as “Naš čovjek na terenu” in 2007; it won the Jutarnji list prize for prose that year, became Croatia’s top-selling novel of 2008 and received the Literaturpreis der Steiermärkischen Sparkasse in Austria in 2011. Will Firth translated it into English for Istros Books in 2012, and Black Balloon Publishing published it in the United States in 2013. Read this novel if you want modern Zagreb with humour. Get “Our Man in Iraq” on Amazon.

Farewell, Cowboy by Olja Savičević (2010, English translation 2015)

“Farewell, Cowboy” is Olja Savičević’s first novel, set in a small, run-down town on the Dalmatian coast where a young woman called Dada comes home to find out why her younger brother Daniel threw himself under a train a few years earlier. “Farewell, Cowboy” takes its title and its tone from the town’s love of old Westerns and from a film crew shooting a cowboy movie nearby.

Savičević, born in Split in 1974, published the novel in Croatian as “Adio kauboju” in 2010; it won the T-portal award for Croatian novel of the year in 2011 and was staged at the Split Summer Festival. Celia Hawkesworth’s English translation came out from Istros Books in April 2015. Pick this novel if your trip centres on Split and the Dalmatian coast. Get “Farewell, Cowboy” on Amazon.

Best Non-fiction Books and Memoirs About Croatia

The 3 non-fiction books about Croatia below cover daily life through the eyes of an American son-in-law, the 1990s transition from communism through the eyes of a Croatian essayist, and an Iowa family’s months in a mountain village.

Chasing a Croatian Girl: A Survivor’s Tale by Cody McClain Brown (2015)

“Chasing a Croatian Girl: A Survivor’s Tale” is American writer Cody McClain Brown’s memoir of falling for a Croatian woman, moving with her to Split and learning to live with her family. “Chasing a Croatian Girl” covers the rule of his mother-in-law, the Croatian fear of draughts (propuh), the endless coffees and the central place of family, all told in a warm and often very funny way.

Brown self-published the memoir in September 2015 (204 pages). It suits anyone planning a long stay in Croatia, marrying into a Croatian family or wanting a light introduction to Croatian culture. Get “Chasing a Croatian Girl” on Amazon.

Café Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulić (1997)

“Café Europa: Life After Communism” is a collection of 25 essays by Croatian journalist and novelist Slavenka Drakulić about how the countries of Eastern Europe tried to become Western after the fall of communism. “Café Europa” takes its name from the cafés that opened across the region as copies of Rome and Paris, with worse coffee and pastries, and Drakulić pairs them with a Zagreb cinema called The Balkan that renamed itself Cinema Europa. Her everyday language and her sharp eye for consumerism make the post-communist 1990s easy to picture.

Drakulić, born in Rijeka in 1949, received the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding in 2005 for “They Would Never Hurt a Fly”, and she died in June 2026 at the age of 76. “Café Europa” was first published in 1997, and her 2021 follow-up, “Café Europa Revisited: How to Survive Post-Communism” (Penguin), returns to the same places 30 years after 1989. Read the original if you want the transition years explained by someone who lived them. Get “Café Europa” on Amazon.

Running Away to Home by Jennifer Wilson (2011)

“Running Away to Home: Our Family’s Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters” is Jennifer Wilson’s memoir of leaving a comfortable life in Des Moines, Iowa, with her family to live in Mrkopalj, the Croatian mountain village her ancestors emigrated from. “Running Away to Home” follows the family through months of living like locals, from milking the neighbour’s cows to hunting down the village recipe for home-distilled spirits.

St. Martin’s Press published the memoir in October 2011. It suits travellers with Croatian roots, families with children and anyone whose trip goes inland rather than to the coast. Get “Running Away to Home” on Amazon.

Best Books on Croatian History

The 3 Croatian history books below work at 3 different depths: a compact primer you can carry, a full narrative history from the first Croat principalities to independence, and a 1,100-page Balkan travelogue from 1937.

Croatia: A History from the Middle Ages to the Present Day by Marcus Tanner (1997, 4th edition 2019)

“Croatia: A History from the Middle Ages to the Present Day” is journalist Marcus Tanner’s narrative history of Croatia from the first Croat principalities of the early Middle Ages to independence and the years after it. “Croatia: A History” follows the country’s rise and fall at the crossroads of larger powers, the Turks, Austrians, Italians and Russians, and gives the wars of the 20th century, from the First World War to the Homeland War (1991-1995), the most space, because, as Yale University Press puts it, the last 3 generations have known warfare on a scale not seen since the Middle Ages.

Yale first published the book in 1997 as “Croatia: A Nation Forged in War”, and the fourth edition of June 2019 (392 pages) carries the new title. Few general histories of Croatia have been written in English, which keeps this one the standard choice for a concise overview. Read Tanner if you want the full national story in one volume. The original Wonderful Wanderings link points to the third edition, “Croatia: A Nation Forged in War” on Amazon, and the 2019 edition of “Croatia: A History” is on Amazon under the new title.

A Traveller’s History of Croatia by Benjamin Curtis (2010)

“A Traveller’s History of Croatia” is Benjamin Curtis’s compact single-volume history, part of the Traveller’s Histories series, and the one to pack if you want the story from antiquity to the independent republic in a book you can read between destinations. “A Traveller’s History of Croatia” is written for visitors rather than students, which makes it the easiest of the 3 histories to read on the move.

Curtis first published the book in 2010 (Chastleton Travel in the UK, Interlink in the US), and Interlink reissued it in 2020. Choose this book as the quick primer; Tanner’s is the deep one. Get “A Traveller’s History of Croatia” on Amazon.

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West (1941)

“Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia” is Rebecca West’s account of a 6-week journey through Yugoslavia in 1937, published in 2 volumes in 1941 by Macmillan in Britain and Viking in the United States, and it runs to more than 1,100 pages in modern editions. “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon” follows West and her husband through Croatia, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Bosnia and Serbia, with the stated aim “to show the past side by side with the present it created”, and the Croatian chapters on Zagreb and the Dalmatian coast are the natural starting point for a Croatia trip.

The book is the classic of Balkan travel writing and the most demanding title here. Start it well before you fly, and look for the Penguin Classics edition with Christopher Hitchens’s introduction. Get “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon” on Amazon.

Best Croatia Travel Guidebooks

The 2 Croatia guidebooks below, checked for their current editions in September 2026, cover the practical side that the novels and histories leave out, such as transport, opening hours and where to stay.

Rick Steves Croatia & Slovenia by Rick Steves and Cameron Hewitt (2025 edition)

“Rick Steves Croatia & Slovenia” is the guidebook for a first trip on the classic route, Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Istria, Split, Hvar, Korčula and Dubrovnik, with Slovenia (Ljubljana, Lake Bled, the Julian Alps and Piran) and side trips to Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, including Mostar and Sarajevo. “Rick Steves Croatia & Slovenia” came out in its current edition on 23 September 2025 with 920 pages, self-guided walking tours and maps.

Pick this guidebook if you plan a week or more and want the coast and Slovenia in one book. Get “Rick Steves Croatia & Slovenia” on Amazon.

Lonely Planet Croatia (2026 edition)

“Lonely Planet Croatia” is the Croatia-only guidebook, and its March 2026 edition (392 pages) covers Zagreb, continental Croatia, Istria, Kvarner, northern Dalmatia, Split and central Dalmatia, and Dubrovnik and southern Dalmatia, with itineraries, a pull-out Dubrovnik map and advice on transport, etiquette and LGBTQ+ travel. “Lonely Planet Croatia” was written by Peter Dragicevich, Vesna Maric, Anja Mutić, Isabel Putinja, Kevin Raub and Lucie Grace.

Choose this guidebook if Croatia is the whole trip and you want the islands and the interior in one volume. Get “Lonely Planet Croatia” on Amazon.

Two More Books Worth Knowing

The 2 books below did not make the main list because neither is set in Croatia by name, but both come up in every conversation about reading for the Balkans.

“The Tiger’s Wife” by Téa Obreht (2011) is set in an unnamed Balkan country between the mid-20th century and the early 21st, and follows a young doctor, Natalia, and the stories her late grandfather told her about a deathless man and a tiger’s wife. Obreht, born in Belgrade in 1985, won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction with it at 25, the youngest winner to date, and the novel was a National Book Award finalist. Get “The Tiger’s Wife” on Amazon.

“Hedgehog’s Home” by Branko Ćopić (1949) is a rhyming children’s poem about a hedgehog who refuses to spend the night away from his beloved house, and generations of children across the former Yugoslavia, Croatia included, grew up with it as “Ježeva kućica”. Ćopić (1915-1984) was a Yugoslav writer from a Bosnian Serb family. S.D. Curtis translated the poem into English for Istros Books in 2011, with illustrations by Sanja Rešek. Get “Hedgehog’s Home” on Amazon.

Plan Your Croatia Trip

Plan the rest of your Croatia trip once the books are chosen, because the route, the dates, the car and the food all need deciding next. The Wonderful Wanderings Croatia vacation guide collects every Croatia post in one place, and the 4 guides below answer the practical questions that come up first.

• Festivals in Croatia: the festivals worth planning your dates around, from film to folk music.
• Renting a car in Croatia: the tips for driving the coast road and reaching places such as Plitvice or Mrkopalj.
• Holiday dates in Croatia: the public holidays that close shops and museums.
• Traditional Croatian food and where to eat it in Zagreb: the dishes that appear in these books, from the endless coffees to home cooking.

Do you know a good book set in Croatia that we missed? Tell us in the comments, and learn more about Wonderful Wanderings if this is your first visit to the site.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 4 tips below come from checking each title’s current edition, publisher and publication date in September 2026.

1. Search for Tanner under his book’s current title. Yale published it in 1997 as “Croatia: A Nation Forged in War”, and the fourth edition of June 2019 carries the title “Croatia: A History from the Middle Ages to the Present Day”. The links that circulate for it, including the one this page has always carried, land on the third edition from 2010.
2. Treat “Café Europa Revisited” as a second book, not a reissue. Drakulić published the original collection in 1997 and the Penguin follow-up in 2021, returning to the same places 30 years after 1989. She died in June 2026 at the age of 76, so the pair now stands as it is.
3. Match the guidebook to the shape of the trip, then check its date. Rick Steves Croatia & Slovenia, 920 pages from 23 September 2025, carries Slovenia plus side trips into Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lonely Planet Croatia, 392 pages from March 2026, stays inside Croatia and goes deeper on the islands and the interior. Both series reissue under the same title, so the publication date is the only way to tell editions apart on a listing.
4. Pack “Hedgehog’s Home” if children are coming. Branko Ćopić’s 1949 rhyming poem, “Ježeva kućica” in the original, is the book generations across the former Yugoslavia grew up with, and S.D. Curtis translated it into English for Istros Books in 2011 with illustrations by Sanja Rešek.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the team covers Croatia for independent travellers, including the books, festivals, car rental, public holiday dates and traditional food worth planning a trip around, and updates this page when editions, prices and dates change.