Na？a djeca by Jagoda Truhelka – Instruction by Depiction of Young Girls’ Destinies

Sa？etak The novel Na？a djeca [Our Children] (1896) is Truhelka’s second novel. It has remained rather unnoticed in literary criticism, mentioned only as another title in her bibliography. This paper sets the novel in the context of the author’s literary opus, as well as her pedagogic work at the end of the 19th century in order to analyse the function of female characters. The novel belongs to the first phase of Truhelka’s oeuvre, so the influence of 19th century literature with regard to its pedagogic and didactic messages, being intended as literature for young girls, can be recognised in it. The novel, however, also addresses issues of female education, independence and social differences that were current at that time