Prague Spring

Author(s): Simon Mawer

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It's the summer of 1968, the year of love and hate, of Prague Spring and Cold War winter. Two English students, Ellie and James, set off to hitch-hike across Europe with no particular aim in mind but a continent, and themselves, to discover. Somewhere in southern Germany they decide, on a whim, to visit Czechoslovakia where Alexander Dubcek's 'socialism with a human face' is smiling on the world.


Meanwhile Sam Wareham, a first secretary at the British embassy in Prague, is observing developments in the country with a mixture of diplomatic cynicism and a young man's passion. In the company of Czech student Lenka Konecková, he finds a way into the world of Czechoslovak youth, its hopes and its ideas. It seems that, for the first time, nothing is off limits behind the Iron Curtain.


Yet the wheels of politics are grinding in the background. The Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubcek and the Red Army is massed on the borders. How will the looming disaster affect those fragile lives caught up in the invasion?

 "It's 1968 during the period of the Prague Spring. Two likeable young students, Ellie and James, decide to hitchhike around Europe, experiencing their first exhilarating taste of freedom, and on the toss of a coin end up heading for Prague. They meet Sam, first secretary at the British Embassy and become embroiled in something much larger than they anticipated. 

This is the cold war and the author presents this historical event through the eyes of these outsiders; as the taste of tantalising freedom is cut short by the brutality of communism.

This is beautifully written, compelling historical fiction written in Mawer's smooth poetic style. Effortless reading and highly recommended. Lynne"

27.99 NZD

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Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9780349143309
  • : Little, Brown Book Group Limited
  • : Abacus
  • : 0.31
  • : March 2019
  • : ---length:- '19.8'width:- '12.6'units:- Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Simon Mawer
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : English
  • : 823.92
  • : 400