In touching yet cannily sophisticated prose, Pavel shares fascinating stories and opinions (“The Beatles-Rolling Stones rivalry was invented by newspapers, but my loyalty skewed toward the Bee Gees”), revealing the funny way she met her American husband, their globe-roving lifestyle, and how she embraced her biggest change yet: settling in the United States to raise their family. She writes movingly of her childhood in Czechoslovakia, where she witnessed food scarcity, limitations on what teachers could teach, the difficulties her mother faced getting cancer medication, and the frustrations her father faced as a business owner—a tailor with seven employees—under an oppressive communist government.
Yet all the while, she paints a loving picture of the family she adores and the beautiful country and people that will always be close to her heart. In London, she at times could not appreciate her surroundings, as she “was focused on the day I would embrace my parents.” A natural storyteller and shrewd observer, Pavel vividly places readers in each setting and nuanced emotional state, from fear and guilt when her toddler son is injured during a typhoon in Hong Kong to her deep yearning for her parents. Pavel always demonstrates a deep understanding of people, keeping readers engaged across decades, continents, and pages.
Takeaway: Moving, incisive memoir of a surprising life after exiting the Iron Curtain.
Comparable Titles: Elena Gorokhova’s Russian Tattoo, Antje Arnold’s The Girl Behind the Wall.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
