“Life continues, even in 1941, even in the middle of war” - Indignity by Lea Ypi

Indignity: A life Reimagined by Lea Ypi explores the period of transition between the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime in Albania through the lens of personal family history. The book began when Ypi came upon a photo of her grandparents honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 when she thought all such records had been destroyed. Below, read an extract from the book’s prologue about the discovery of the photograph and the unsettling questions it prompted for Ypi about the gaps in her understanding of her grandmother’s life. Indignity: A Life Reimagined. Lea Ypi. Allen Lane. 2025.