The Sojourn

A stunning debut novel of brutality and survival on the Southern Front of World War I.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE WINNER

A stirring tale of brotherhood, coming of age, and survival during World War I

The Sojourn is the story of Jozef Vinich, who was uprooted from a 19th-century mining town in Colorado by a family tragedy and returns with his father to an impoverished shepherd’s life in rural Austria-Hungary. When war comes, Jozef joins his adopted brother as a sharpshooter in the Kaiser’s army, surviving a perilous trek across the frozen Italian Alps and capture by a victorious enemy.

Strikingly contemporary though replete with evocative historical detail, The Sojourn is the freestanding, first novel of Andrew Krivak’s award-winning Dardan Trilogy, which concludes with Like the Appearance of Horses. Inspired by the author’s family history, it is also a poignant tale of fathers and sons, addressing the great immigration to America and the desire to live the American dream amid the unfolding tragedy in Europe.