Beginning as a novel about family life in the tumultuous historical context of the 1990s, The Farewell Gift evolves into an intense and gripping narrative about the dramatic search for a brother and the experience of new emigration. After the disappearance of his deeply connected brother, Tasić’s protagonist leaves Novi Sad—a city whose mythology and everyday life form one of the novel’s fertile centers. Only in Canada, amidst a wholly new life that remains haunted by the experiences of the one left behind, does he discover the truth about his brother’s disappearance. The farewell gift, which unfailingly arrives at his Canadian address, confronts the protagonist with a fateful ordeal and a poignant revelation.