Customer Reviews

Beyond the Chestnut Trees

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A window on the 20th century (told largely in flashback) but beautiful, beautiful, beautiful; artfulness concealing art. If you like Proust, or if he sounds too forbidding, or if you've never even heard of him, this book is for YOU; you'll wolf it down. If it's really still in print, BUY IT NOW; you'll want to pass it on to your friends... PS I had never heard of Maria Bauer until I stumbled across this book!

Maria Bauer paints a picture of a bygone time in beautiful word pictures. Her life story is as dramatic and colorful as any I have ever read. Brava!

This is my favorite memoir. Apparently the only book written by Maria Bauer. I first read it over 15 years ago and now that I have reread it, I am buying copies for my friends. Maria's family lived a privileged Christian life in Prague but they were able to escape the Nazi oppression through Western Europe with little more than the clothes on their backs. The story of her return to the country of her birth after WWII brings back memories of family, friends, and a changed landscape. The chestnut trees were a perfect symbol of their survival.

This memoir was written by a natural writer with a beautiful sense of line and rhythm; not to mention a gift for telling a story!