Every Day, Every Hour

Overview

An exquisitely romantic debut novel that captures the longing of lost—and sometimes found—love

It is the mid-1960s in a small seaside town in Croatia. Two children, Luka and Dora, meet on their first day of kindergarten. Luka faints the first time he sees Dora and she wakes him with a kiss. The two become inseparable. Over the next few years, they wander the shores of their town, lying on their special rock by the sea as Luka paints—until Dora’s parents move to Paris. Bereft, ...

See more details below
Hardcover
$25.04
BN.com price
(Save 3%)$25.95 List Price

Pick Up In Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Other sellers (Hardcover)
  • All (41) from $1.99   
  • New (22) from $1.99   
  • Used (19) from $1.99   
Every Day, Every Hour

Available on NOOK devices and apps  
  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK HD/HD+ Tablet
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for Windows 8 Tablet
  • NOOK for iOS
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK for Windows 8
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for Web

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

NOOK Book (eBook)
$12.99
BN.com price

Overview

An exquisitely romantic debut novel that captures the longing of lost—and sometimes found—love

It is the mid-1960s in a small seaside town in Croatia. Two children, Luka and Dora, meet on their first day of kindergarten. Luka faints the first time he sees Dora and she wakes him with a kiss. The two become inseparable. Over the next few years, they wander the shores of their town, lying on their special rock by the sea as Luka paints—until Dora’s parents move to Paris. Bereft, Luka becomes a solitary young man, prey to the needs of his family, but a promising painter. In Paris, Dora blossoms and becomes a successful actress.

When Luka comes to Paris for a show of his paintings, a chance encounter brings them together. Now adults, they fall back in love, and their feelings are given resonance by a shared adoration of Pablo Neruda. Timing and fate, however, seem determined to keep them apart. Like The Solitude of Prime Numbers and One Day, Nataša Dragnic’s Every Day, Every Hour is a haunting tale of star-crossed love that will utterly entrance readers with the rhythmic beauty of its language and ineffable air of expectation and heartache.

Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
This first novel, set mostly in seaside Makarska, Croatia, begins with a fateful meeting of two children, Luka and Dora. They quickly become inseparable but are pulled apart by fate when Dora's family moves to Paris. When they run into each other again as young adults—he a painter showing his works in Paris, and she an actress—a passionate affair begins. But Luka ends things owing to complications back home, setting off a lifetime of longing for both. This story is appealingly romantic, unfolding from the alternating viewpoints of two protagonists, who generate palpable sparks. And the book begins intriguingly with Chapter 40 then proceeds to Chapter 1, making us wonder how things turned out so wrong. The main disappointment is how unlikable and unsympathetic Luka becomes; he lets life happen to him without taking any initiative yet blames those around him. Why Dora continues to love him for decades is ultimately a mystery. VERDICT Recommended for those drawn to stories of love denied, such as Ian McEwan's Atonement, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, and Paolo Giordano's The Solitude of Prime Numbers. [See Prepub Alert, 11/21/11.]—Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC
Kirkus Reviews
While no Romeo and Juliet, Luka and Dora turn out to be lovers almost as star-crossed as their Elizabethan counterparts. Luka and Dora first meet in kindergarten in the Croatian town of Makarska when--shades of Dante and Beatrice--Luka faints at her beauty and Dora awakens him with a kiss (and she's only two). She whispers to him that he's her "prince," a motif Dragnic reiterates throughout the novel. Inseparable as children, the young couple even experiences the jealousy of Ana, Luka's younger sister. But all Edens eventually come to an end, and so their idyll changes when, as a young adolescent, Dora moves to Paris. Meanwhile, Luka studies art in Zagreb, eventually linking up with Klara, a model three years older than he. Klara is more enthusiastic about the relationship than is Luka, but he nevertheless becomes her somewhat reluctant lover. As his talents flourish, an exhibit of his paintings is arranged in Paris where, after a 16-year hiatus, he unexpectedly reunites with Dora. This time there is no hesitation--they immediately become lovers and are again inseparable. After three idyllic months together, Luka returns to Croatia only to find that Klara is pregnant, supposedly with his child, a charade Klara maintains for the next 16 years, further tethering Luka to her against his will. Periodically he and Dora, who has studied the dramatic arts and is experiencing some success in her own career as an actress, meet up. But will they ever get together for good? Dragnic avoids mawkishness by keeping her focus on the ache of love and on the difficulties of its fulfillment.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780670023509
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 5/24/2012
  • Pages: 272
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Nataša Dragnic was born in Split, Croatia. After studying German, English, and French, she attended the Croatian School of Diplomacy. She currently lives in Erlangen, Germany. This is her first novel.

Liesl schillinger is a New York–based journalist and literary critic who writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review. She was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker.

Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)