Prague Spring, Simon Mawer
Prague Spring, Simon Mawer
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Prague Spring

Author: Simon Mawer

Narrator: Ralph Lister

Unabridged: 12 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/13/2018

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Simon Mawer returns to Czechoslovakia, this time during the turbulent 1960s, with a suspenseful story of sex, politics, and betrayal. In the summer of 1968, the year of the Prague Spring with a Cold War winter, Oxford students James Borthwick and Eleanor Pike set out to hitchhike across Europe, complicating a budding friendship that could be something more. Having reached 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, First Secretary at the British embassy in Prague, observes developments in the country with a diplomat’s 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, with all its hopes and new ideas; now, nothing seems off-limits behind the Iron Curtain. But the great wheels of politics are grinding in the background; Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubcek, and the Red Army is massing on the borders.This shrewd, engrossing, and sensual novel once again proves Simon Mawer is one of today’s most talented writers of historical spy fiction.

About Simon Mawer

Simon Mawer is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Glass Room, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. His other novels include The Fall, which won the Boardman Tasker Prize; The Gospel of Judas; and Mendel’s Dwarf, which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. English by birth, he has made Italy his home for more than thirty years.

About Ralph Lister

Ralph Lister is an actor, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He spent fifteen years in London theater before moving to the United States to focus on film and television. He has held numerous roles in Shakespeare and modern dramas, as well as starring roles in independent films. His voice and character work can be heard in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearland 13 Going On 30. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

Goodreads review by kristyna on June 15, 2018

How do I review THIS? Mawer's new book is a masterpiece. The story will touch you through its gentleness, it will hold your heart, caress it and then crush it. Parts of beautifully poetic language are followed by raw story-telling which gets to the point, quickly and simply. I loved the book, that's......more

Goodreads review by switterbug (Betsey) on January 14, 2019

If you know anything about the Prague Spring—which started in January of 1968 and went on until August 21 of the same year, when the Soviet Red Army invaded, it is the time of mild liberalization and democratization of the media and travel, and of the citizens’ ability to enjoy more freedoms in Czec......more

Goodreads review by Karolina on November 17, 2018

Je pro mě dost těžké, že jsem svému oblíbenému Mawerovi dala jen tři hvězdičky, a budu se s tím asi dlouho vnitřně srovnávat. Jenže! Já jsem měla tak vysoká očekávání, že jsem prostě trochu zklamaná. Kulisy léta 68 jsou věrohodné, ovšem za mne plné drobných či větších klišé a milostná linka mi nepři......more

Goodreads review by Tereza on February 26, 2019

Při čtení Pražského jara se u mě vystřídala celá řada pocitů. V první řadě se to celé čte jako trochu lepší milostný román na pozadí zajímavých historických událostí. To mi přišlo maličko škoda a celé to srovnávání s Kunderou a Nesnesitelnou lehkostí bytí je podle mě aktuální právě pro tu milostnou......more

Goodreads review by Kathy on February 04, 2019

This is the story of two young Oxford students who get to know each other from acting in a play. It is 1968 and time to decide what to do on "vac" and the female of the two is the driving force in pushing for a road trip through Europe. Everything as described is quite believable, but why they manag......more

Quotes

“Masterly and chilling…As good as anything Simon Mawer has written; which means it is very good indeed.” Scotsman (Edinburgh)

“Mawer is marvelous at historical detail, and danger mounts in a way that keeps the pages turning.” Publishers Weekly

“Though the sensuous attraction of lovers teasing each other could be a distraction, here it is a mirror of the interplay of youthful Czechoslovaks who believe in the burgeoning political springtime yet also fear it.” Library Journal

“Mawer brilliantly captures the differing shades of naïveté and world weariness that characterize the Czech response to the possibility of greater freedom…[A] smart and touching look at the folly and sweetness of the young.” Booklist

“Making a strong return to the Eastern European setting of his acclaimed novel The Glass Room, British author Mawer limns the Cold War to affecting and ultimately chilling effect.” Kirkus Reviews

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