Reflections of Prague (ePub)

Reflections of Prague is the story of how a Czech Jewish family
become embroiled in the most tragic and tumultuous episodes of the
twentieth century. Through their eyes we see the history of
their beloved Prague, a unique European city, and the wider,
political forces that tear their lives apart. Their moving story
traces the major events, turmoil, oppression and triumphs of Europe
through the last hundred years - from the Austro-Hungarian
Empire to the First World War; from the vibrant artistic and
intellectual life of Prague in the times of Kafka, the Capek
Brothers and Masaryk to years of hunger in a Polish ghetto and the
concentration camps of Hitler; from the tyrannous rule of Stalin to
the rekindled hopes of Dubcek and the subsequent Soviet occupation
to liberation under Havel. Told from Ivan's perspective, it
is a poignant but uplifting tale that tells of life lived with
purpose and conviction, in the face of personal suffering and
sacrifice.

'A remarkable book. This archetypical story of the
twentieth century is intertwined with an almost
stream-of-consciousness narrative of the history of the Czechs, of
Prague, interspersed with samples of exquisite poetry by great
contemporary poets. So the narrative flows like Eliot's sweet
Thames full of the debris of tragic lives, of horrors, of moments
of beauty and testimonies of love - all against the backdrop
of man's inhumanity.' Josef
Skvorecky

'A poignant and vivid mémoire of a child
searching for traces of his father, lost in the murky ideologies of
post war Central Europe. An engrossing book.' Sir
John Tusa