The Museum of Lost Love. Gary Barker

      

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      Dispatches from the frontiers of love

      Tyler is in therapy. Katia and Goran are in love. On a summer trip to Zagreb, the couple discover an unusual museum that displays mementos of broken relationships. Inside, Goran stumbles upon an exhibit that seems to be addressed to him, from a girl he met in a Sarajevo refugee camp at age fourteen. What follows is a whirlwind summer of reconnecting with lost pasts: Goran confronts the youth he lost during the Yugoslav Wars, Katia heads to Brazil to find her roots, and Afghanistan veteran Tyler pours out his soul. Set against alternating backdrops of violent circumstances, this novel is a soulful testament to the resilience of the human heart.

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      Praise for Gary Barker:

      ‘The emotional heft of The Museum of Lost Love is obvious from the first page and never lets up. The characters breathe, they love, they mourn. They stay with you.’

      JENNIFER FOX, Writer/Director/Producer of the award-winning film The Tale

      ‘Gary Barker writes as beautifully and efficiently as any writer I’ve read—not an unnecessary sentence in the entire book. He is Hemingway without the false macho energy, and The Museum of Lost Love is an extraordinary testament to the enduring power of our pasts.’

      RICHARD REYES-GAVILAN, Executive Director, Washington DC Public Libraries

      for Mary of Kivu

      ‘Mary of Kivu is the story of the Great African War, told with grace and passion. Drawing on his own experience in Congo and Rwanda, Barker depicts the horrors of war in an intriguing story that shows humanity’s gift to forgive is greater than its genius to destroy.’

      SHEREEN EL FEKI, author of Sex and the Citadel

      ‘Barker writes with a simple, raw honesty that is captivating. No one is untouched by suffering in this novel. But the hope of healing and redemption, even in the darkest times, shines through. Mary of Kivu has an enduring, yet timely message: that forgiveness has the power to heal the deepest wounds—and create miracles in the process.’

      KUWANA HAULSEY, author of The Red Moon and Angel of Harlem

      for The Afghan Vampires Book Club

      ‘A riveting story of love and war. A marriage of American Sniper and Heart of Darkness. I read it straight through in one sitting.’

      JANE FONDA

      ‘Partly a satirical broadside against the insanity of war by two writers who have spent years campaigning against violence, The Afghan Vampires Book Club also works as conspiracy thriller, speculative fiction, and full-on descent into hell.’

      The Herald Scotland

      for Luisa’s Last Words

      ‘Luisa’s Last Words is like a Le Carré novel with heart: you can’t put it down.’

      JONATHAN NOSSITER, filmmaker

      ‘Offers a chilling evocation of the emotional impact of violence in South America. This rich, contemporary, political novel is written in a vivid cinematic style.’

      Liemers Bibliotheken

      ‘Based on his personal experiences, Barker offers a frank, honest glimpse at the people behind the human rights field. A strong debut. It raises challenging questions about peace negotiations, a theme we rarely read about in fiction.’

      Cutting Edge, Belgium

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      GARY BARKER is an author, researcher, and human rights activist. He is founder and director of Promundo, an international organization that works with men and boys in more than twenty-five countries to achieve gender equality and end violence against women. He has been awarded an Ashoka Fellowship and an Open Society Fellowship for his work in conflict zones. His previous novels include Luisa’s Last Words, Mary of Kivu, and The Afghan Vampires Book Club (co-written with Michael Kaufman). Barker lives in Washington, DC.

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      AUTHOR

      ‘My profession, my life’s cause, is working with men to end violence against women. We seldom talk about the wounds that make it difficult for men to love. About healing. While working on a study on men and the war in former Yugoslavia, a friend took me to a museum where stories of lost love are collected. It seemed to me then that the men and women I had met over the years, were all sitting with me in this one room, all telling their stories.’

      PUBLISHER

      ‘Gary Barker knows what he is writing about. He knows the countries and their politics; he has lived and worked around the world with people traumatized by war and sexual violence, victims as well as perpetrators. People have told him the details of their lives and loves, and he has carefully listened to these stories and skillfully turned them into fiction. The involvement and the tenderness towards his characters are palpable on each and every page.’

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      Gary Barker

      The Museum of Lost Love

      WORLD EDITIONS

      New York, London, Amsterdam

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      Published in the USA in 2019 by World Editions LLC, New York

      Published in the UK in 2019 by World Editions Ltd., London

      World Editions

      New York/London/Amsterdam

      Copyright © Gary Barker, 2019

      Cover image © Diana Bejarano

      Author portrait © Andy DelGuidice

      This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The opinions expressed therein are those of the characters and should not be confused with those of the author.

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available

      ISBN Trade paperback 978-1-64286-042-9

      ISBN E-book 978-1-64286-050-4

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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      Book Club Discussion Guides are available on our website.

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      And love is not a victory march.

      Leonard Cohen

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      Katia

      Katia knew that look in her patients’ eyes. She had questioned the competence of her own therapist. In her case it had been a woman, black like her, when she was fifteen. Now, as she started her own practice, the patients came to her instead. And she was convinced their lives were bigger and more damaged than her own.

      She was silent as she sat across from her first patient of the day, a man