Feathers and Oranges: A War Child's Journey: The War Years & The Aftermath

"I was eleven when the war began. By the time I reached safety, I had lived through snipers, silence, and the slow erasure of everything familiar."

Feathers and Oranges is a memoir in two parts - The War Years and The Aftermath - tracing the true story of a child who survived Sarajevo's siege and the girl she became, learning to belong in suburban Australia.

Born in a city under siege, Samara learned to navigate snipers, scarcity, and silence. When her family finally fled, the challenges didn't end-they only shifted: mistranslations, migration offices, and the quiet pressure to forget.

Told with raw honesty and lyrical restraint, Feathers and Oranges explores what it means to grow up between cultures, between languages, and between versions of yourself - to carry war in your memory, but hope in your hands.

Part One: The War Years

A War Child's Journey Through Sarajevo, Silence and Survival

Part Two: The Aftermath

A Girl's Journey Through Displacement, Memory and Belonging