The Visible World - Tapa dura

A clandestine love affair is kindled during the dark days of the Nazi occupation of Prague; its consequences reverberate through the decades and across thousands of miles, with tragic results. This work is suitable for readers of the most all-consuming literary hits of recent years from "The God of Small Things" and "Snow Falling on Cedars" to "Fall on Your Knees" and Captain Corelli's "Mandolin". 'My mother knew a man during the war. Theirs was a love story, and like any good love story, it left blood on the floor and wreckage in its wake.' This is a story about memory and concealed histories, and about the way that the most fiercely-held secrets of the past eventually force their way to the surface. It begins with a boy, the child of Czech immigrants to the US, who is brought up on the ancient myths, and on the folktales of his parents' homeland. As he grows older, he becomes aware that the one story he hasn't been told is what his parents did during the war. It is only as an adult, when he makes a journey back to Prague, that he discovers their part in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the notorious 'butcher of Prague'. Embedded at the heart of this gripping history, is a powerful love story - of a tragic passion and an enduring commitment. Plotted with all the intensity of a thriller, this intelligent and moving novel has what it takes to be a readers' favourite and a contemporary classic.

MARK SLOUKA's short fiction has featured in Best American Short Stories and has been awarded a National Magazine Award for Fiction. He is a Contributing Editor at Harper's, and the author of The Woodcarver's Tale and God's Fool (Knopf and Picador).