Fragments of Belonging

Incoming Editorial·Reviewed April 24, 2026

Tatjana is lonely. Born in Croatia, she has lived across Europe before settling in Amsterdam. Fifteen years later, her teenage son avoids bringing friends home, embarrassed by her dreadful Slavic accent and her lack of Dutch composure. But the real trouble is bigger: Tatjana feels foreign everywhere. Determined to belong, she starts knocking on doors across Europe, asking relatives and friends how they did it. Stumbling through cultural misfires and everyday bias, she finally confronts a dark pattern in her own family history.