Ostainica: in the patriarchal societies of Northern Albania, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia, a woman who takes a vow of chastity according to the Kanun and begins to live as a man. It is a constitutionally recognized gender transition that grants the woman the rights and freedoms of men, freedoms she did not previously have, rights that other women are still deprived of.
A day before her wedding to the man her father chose for Bekija, another man rapes her; she is no longer a virgin, and her future husband, according to the customary law of Kanun, can kill her with a bullet left in her dowry by her own father. Instead, Bekija decides to renounce her female identity and become an ostainica. She takes the name Matija, cuts her hair, burns her clothes, and wears only men's clothing. However, by making this choice, she tarnishes the honor of the man she was to marry and must designate a man from her family to be murdered by a member of the disgraced husband's clan to restore his violated pride. She is thus called to decide who will be killed, her brother or her father.
Years later, Bekija/Matija will confront her story as she narrates it to a journalist.
The book challenges perceptions of masculinity and femininity by presenting a woman who struggles with gender identity for deeply rooted reasons, decides to become a man, something that destroys her family and leads to years of isolation. In the end, however, only love will save her.
Book Genre: Social, Historical Novel
Atmosphere: Dramatic, full of tension, emotional, with elements of mystery and suspense.
