Initial Coordinates meditates on Monika Herceg’s earliest childhood memories in a small rural village near Petrinja in central Croatia as war breaks out in the 1990s.

It can be read as a magical realist novel in verse, exploring the history of a family through financial hardships, domestic violence, animal abuse, and the overall decline of village life.

Drawing directly on Croatian mythology, this bold, unforgettable work mimics oral traditions, reflecting the people whose lives helped shape Herceg’s voice and perspective, one very much rooted in the resilience of nature’s rhythms.