One of the new releases at the “Tirana 2025” Book Fair is the novel “Who Cried in Paradise” by Albanian journalist and author Irena Shabani.

The story transports readers to Albania in 1996, a turbulent and uncertain period. A woman faces a difficult choice that challenges both the law and human conscience.

Shabani explains, “Who Cried in Paradise” draws on true events and illuminates the lives of ordinary people during extraordinary times.

Using careful documentary research, Shabani creates a restrained yet deeply human narrative, filled with tension. The novel explores courage, morality, and the silent weight of the decisions people must make when confronted with impossibility.

Irena Shabani is a journalist and author. This novel follows her 2024 poetry collection “Letters You Never Sent Me”, which reflected on love, absence, homeland, and society’s unspoken realities.

“Who Cried in Paradise” is Shabani’s third publication and her first novel. With it, she expands her literary horizon, embracing a more narrative and introspective style while staying true to realism and human emotion.