The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien

Cloonoila sits on a river in Ireland with the same name.  Somewhat isolated, idyllic on the surface, all its inhabitants known to one another.  Enter Dr. Vlad.  A charming though enigmatic gentleman from Montenegro, he is a welcome diversion from their hum drum life.  Although he appears to bring nothing with him, he plans to open a clinic - of sorts.  Soon he is drawn into the life of the town and its people.   Fidelma McBride grieves for the business she has lost and the child she fears she will never have with her much older husband.  Quickly she falls under Vlad's spell.  But he is not who he pretends to be.  He is based on a real character - one of the "butchers of Sarajevo".  Such is the essence of the story in part one of the book.  Part two finds Fidelma living among the immigrant community in London.  Part three centers around a trial in Den Haag.  The transition from one part to the next is jarring at first but eventually all hang together.  The title of the book is based on the fact that on an anniversary the siege of Sarajevo,  11,541 red chairs were set out on the streets of Sarajevo to commemorate the people that died including 643 small chairs representing the lives of children killed.  It is a powerfully written story disturbing on multiple levels.  Part of the universal tale of great evil meeting great compassion.  I guarantee you will look up the siege of Sarajevo and struggle to remember how something this big could have just passed in and out of your interest.  Then be grateful that books like this remind us that we need to pay better attention.