The Nazi racial policy in occupied Serbia exempted young Mira from persecution, but seven people dear to her were murdered by March 1942. Against a backdrop of death, it is the ordinary, everyday existence that is depicted in this book: getting through, somehow, the days, weeks and months; and when loved ones are no more, for those left behind, the business of enduring life, for four long years.

Food was the main preoccupation. How to obtain it and what to do with it were pressing and ever-present questions for the extended family that surrounded Mira during the WWII years. An overwhelming concern with provisioning is reflected in many a page vividly describing the inventive ways of putting precious supplies to best use. But sustenance is more than food. Complex human relations constitute the core of this memoir. The effects of wartime conditions (danger from both enemy and friendly fire, grief and mourning, constant uncertainty) on personalities and their doings are explored through the eyes of a needy and vigilant child. The author’s memories are recounted with insight, humility and humour. Gently but firmly, the reader’s imagination is led toward compassion for vulnerability and respect for resilience under duress.

Praise for War Fare 

I loved this book. It is a moving personal story of a childhood in wartime Belgrade and a colourful evocation of European family life – Jewish on Mira’s father’s side, Serbian Orthodox on her mother’s – but it is also an invaluable historical document of war, loss and emigration.

A fascinating read.

Vesna Goldsworthy
Author of the international bestseller
'Chernobyl Strawberries'

Mira Crouch brings sensitivity and light into her memoir of a Belgrade family struggling to survive the dark days of WWII. Her evocative scenes of the city, the landscape and the seasons, and the joy the family takes in creating meals out of meagre wartime ingredients, are wonderfully narrated.

Rose Zwi
Award-winning novelist and author of the memoir
Last Walk in Naryshkin Park

What Mira Crouch calls her ‘little book’ is in fact a great story. War Fare is an autobiographical masterpiece. Beautifully written, it brings together history and memory by reconstructing vignettes from her childhood journey, a childhood spent in a Serbian-Jewish family under Nazi rule in war-torn Belgrade. The episodes recalled and the images portrayed make Mira’s memoir a most rewarding read.

Konrad Kwiet
Adjunct Professor for Jewish Studies and Roth Lecturer in Holocaust Studies
at The University of Sydney