Raki is the Australian Aboriginal generic word for rope, the unifying metaphor of Wongar's novel, representing the conquered or bound state of two sets of oppressed peoples. From the confines of an outback Australian prison cell to war-torn Serbia, Raki invokes a powerful story of struggle -- the struggle to uphold traditions and nurture memory in the face of human devastation.Drawing on tragic similarities between the forced separation of Aboriginal children from their tribal families and the decimation of his Serbian native land, B. Wongar has written an epic and unforgettable novel. And the unifying symbol is raki -- the rope which binds the historical facts, linking the Serbian and Aboriginal cultures to time immemorial. But raki is also the yoke of servitude, the rope which snaps with the shock of genocide.