Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal - ISBN: 9780241752142
Paperback
Love, war, and coming-of-age derail in occupied Czechoslovakia.

Closely Watched Trains

$16.24

  • Paperback

    112 pages

  • Release Date

    15 July 2025

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Summary

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books

Closely Watched Trains tells the story of Milos Hrma, a young railroad apprentice coming of age in wartime Czechoslovakia. Milos is overwhelmed with worries - about his virginity, his love for the conductor, and ongoing scandals in the stationmaster’s office - besides which the idea of fighting the Germans seems a simple affair. Poignant, humorous and the inspiration behind the 1966 Academy Award-winning film, this is a small mas…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780241752142
ISBN-10:0241752140
Author:Bohumil Hrabal, Edith Pargeter
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint:Penguin Classics
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:112
Release Date:15 July 2025
Weight:73g
Dimensions:180mm x 110mm x 6mm
Series:Penguin Archive
About The Author

Bohumil Hrabal

Bohumil Hrabal was one of the most important and admired Czech writers of the twentieth century. He was born and raised in Brno in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914. After working as a railway labourer, insurance agent, travelling salesman, manual labourer, paper-packer and stagehand, he published a collection of poetry that was quickly withdrawn by the communist regime. His best-known books include I Served the King of England, Closely Watched Trains (made into an Academy Award-winning film directed by Jiri Menzel) and Too Loud a Solitude. In 1997, he fell to his death from the fifth floor of a Prague hospital, apparently trying to feed the pigeons.

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