Jill Paton Walsh is a novelist who I usually associate with her continuations of the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L Sayers, which I recommend for fans of the original books. She has also written a series of detective novels featuring as her main character a nurse in one of the Cambridge colleges – I have read one of these and enjoyed it a lot. I spotted A Desert in Bohemia in a charity shop for the ridiculous price of 50 pence and purchased it, without really thinking about it, because I knew of the author. This book, in fact, is not a detective story but an historical novel set in the latter part of the twentieth century in Eastern Europe – despite the title it is not set in Bohemia.
The story starts in 1945 as the war comes to a close. The story is set in an imaginary kingdom which is part of Czechoslovakia. Communist partisans have formed the resistance to the Nazis and are looking forward to welcoming in a new more equitable world order, while the Russians and Germans are still fighting over territory. Into a large castle in a rural area comes Eliska. She is covered in blood but can’t remember what has happened to her. In the kitchen she finds food obviously ready to serve and a baby, hidden from view but there is no one there. Soon Eliska is joined by some partisans seeking refuge and then by Count Michael whose family has owned the castle for generations. In the difficult winter they barely survive.
The book tells the story of these people, and those connected to them, up to 1990 when the Soviet bloc fails. There are nine chapters, each of which follows one character,r and often includes the others. We follow the aristocrats who flee and those who stay. We hear what happens to the ordinary people who are true Communists and those who are persecuted by the system. We spend time with exiles seeking to come to terms with their fate and with their children who struggle to understand their national identity. There is mistrust and betrayal among the characters but often solidarity, as well as an acceptance of change. The author links the stories beautifully and resolves them all very satisfactorily at the end.
This is not a feel-good story but a realistic attempt to show the changes in this region during the difficult period. The characters are well thought through and it is great to see them develop over the years. This is not a long book, I read it in one evening, but it includes a lot by skipping from one year to another.
I thought that this book was an absolute delight. I was unprepared for how invested I would be in the lives of these individuals and how much I wanted to see them thrive in difficult circumstances. I thought that the author did a brilliant job in tying everything together for the ending but also in exploring issues of moral choices.
I am not sure whether or not to retain this book but I think that I will keep it for the moment with my shelf of books I especially enjoy – I may well wish to read it again.
Anne Is Reading 