The Book Circle will meet on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 3 p.m. to talk about The World and All That It Contains by Aleksandar Hemon.

Opening in Sarajevo as WWI is triggered, this globe-trotting century-spanning novel mingles fact with fiction, taking readers on a journey through years and lives that span continents. Find here falling empires, storied cities, wars galore, loves, losses, dreams, delusions, allusions, and the occasional rude joke.

According to book reviewer Lucy Hughes-Hallett, the novel is immense, not because it is long — it isn’t — but because it contains almost as much as its title promises.

It is “as emotionally compelling as it is clever,” she said, noting “I’ll be surprised if I enjoy a novel more this year.