One morning in 1945 the residents of Slemence wake up to find half their town in Slovakia and the other half in the Ukraine. The random and absurd new border splits family and friends who could once walk down the road for tea with cousins but now have to trek 150 kilometers north for a visa, an improbable trip for the average villager. For 60 years residents swap neighborly news by hollering over border guards and across a grassy divide to loved ones on the other side. And then Slovakia prepares to enter the EU and the villagers’ way of life is poised to change again. The town itself is the main character in this insightful tale, which winks at our worldwide obsession with building fences and carving up land that ultimately belongs to none of us.  RYS