A Story from the Ashes

Ninety-year-old Matouš tells librarian Michal his tragic story from May 1945 when, as a little boy at the end of the Second World War, he dramatically lost both his parents and his home in a single night. However, when a mysterious diary belonging to Tereza Štěpánková lands in the librarian's hands, casting the events of that night in a completely different light, their two fates begin to intertwine in a remarkable way, revealing that the past may not be as clear-cut as it first seemed. Who is the mysterious Tereza, and where did her diary suddenly appear from? Which story is the real one? Michal follows the trail of both narratives, gradually unravelling what really happened eighty years ago. At the same time, he learns that human stories serve not only to record the past, but above all to understand it—and sometimes, to find freedom. Petr Bobek presents a gripping novel about how memories can neither be silenced nor rewritten.