Breda Smolnikar's �?tales�? draw on patterns of oral narrative, combining them with elaborate modernist forms of narration. The resulting texts, typically told in one long �?sentence�? with an unmistakeable rhythm, interweave multiple voices and language registers to build up fluid and fragmentary, yet powerfully evocative portraits of ordinary people and the historic events in which they are caught up.

When Up There Birches Are Greening traces the life of an extraordinary woman whose career in informal economy starts in the US (where numerous Slovenians emigrated during the 19th century) producing and selling strong liquors under prohibition �?? she even sells to the White house �?? then continues in Slovenia during the two world wars and accompanying political upheavals, always finding ways to survive and even thrive in seemingly impossible circumstances. As passionate in trade as ever in her uninhibited sexuality braving all early-20th-century taboos (but portrayed with tenderness and humour), Rozina's uncompromising vitality is a far cry from the usual ways women are presented in Slovenian fiction.