In the small Bosnian town of Visegrad the stone bridge of the novel's title, bui
lt in the sixteenth century on the instruction of a grand vezir, bears witness t
o three centuries of conflict. Visegrad has long been a bone of contention betwe
en the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, but the bridge survives unscathed u
ntil 1914, when the collision of forces in the Balkans triggers the outbreak of
World War I. The bridge spans generations, nationalities and creeds, silent test
ament to the lives played out on it.
