Bojana

"Bojana is the first published collection of Ivan Tocko's short stories. Bojana is a young Macedonian woman, married only 2 months, whose husband Krste leaves for America as a migrant worker. Macedonia has a long tradition of people migrating to find work. leaving behind families - parents, wives. children. After 22 years in America Krste returns with a pile of gold coins, tired and worn out, Bojana too is middle-aged, equally worn out and sad, her little boy died, youth has gone, there are no traces left of the young couple from the beginning of the tale, both of them shadows of their young selves. She curses the gold, it cannot bring back lost dreams, youth and happiness. "Master tradesman" deals with the dramas on a building site, where migrant village workers who come to big cities work, trying to get builder's qualifications, among them 19-year old Vele. Both stories were published in later collections.