Closely Watched Trains
Regular price
€10.99
A01=Bohumil Hrabal
adulting
age of entitlement
asia
Author_Bohumil Hrabal
book collections for adults
book gifts
book lover gifts
book sets
Category=FBA
Category=FYT
cgp english literature
chinese
classic books
classic books collection
classic books for adults
classic literature
classic literature books
classic novels
comedy
coming of age
dutch
english literature
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
getting older
gifts for readers
historical fiction
historical romances
jorge luis borges
joseph roth
kafka
literary fiction
literary gifts
literature
literature books
metamorphosis kafka
milan kundera
modern classics
novella
novels
paperback books
penguin books classics
penguin classics
penguin classics book
penguin classics paperback
prague
pynchon
romances
special edition books
stefan zweig
the master and margarita
the midlife crisis
the trial
the world at war
timeless classics books
translation
war fiction
white noise don delillo book
world war 2
world war ii
world war two
ww2
Product details
- ISBN 9780241752142
- Weight: 73g
- Dimensions: 110 x 180mm
- Publication Date: 17 Apr 2025
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books
Closely Watched Trains tells the story of Miloš Hrma, a young railroad apprentice coming of age in wartime Czechoslovakia. Miloš 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 masterpiece from one of the best Czech writers of the twentieth century.
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travelling salesman, manual labourer, paper-packer and stagehand, he published a collection of poetry that was quickly withdrawn by the communist regime.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.
