VERA'S STORY

ESCAPE TO FREEDOM

by J.K. DeRosa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 14, 2018

DeRosa’s debut biography tells of an extraordinary woman who left her beloved family and country for the right to live free.

In 1965, Vera Caslavsky and her husband, Jarda, devised a plan to escape from Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia. They received permission from the local Communist Party in Prague to vacation in Yugoslavia with their 8-year-old daughter, Veronika. But after their subsequent attempts to secretly travel to Italy or Austria failed, they went “back to [their] lives as ‘loyal citizens of the Czech Socialist Republic.’ ” It would be another year before the married couple finally escaped to America—but they were forced to leave Veronika behind with her grandmother. Born in 1934 in democratic Czechoslovakia, Caslavsky was raised in the “enchanting and historical town” of Chrudim, surrounded by “loving grandparents…a father who read [her] stories at night and…a mother who lamented [her] birth.” Her grammar school days were spent under Nazi occupation, and she spent her high school years under Soviet rule. In 1952, after graduation, she married Jarda, majored in chemistry at Prague’s Charles University and obtained her master’s degree. Jarda was denied further study, though, because of his past anti-Communist rhetoric, and he convinced his wife that escape was necessary as “he was still a marked man.” DeRosa draws on Caslavsky’s monograph, as well as hours of interviews with Caslavsky, in this first-person account, which “fill[s] in…memory gaps” with additional content to provide an “ ‘almost true’ story.” As a result, it does often feel as if Caslavsky is providing this recollection herself. DeRosa’s prose poignantly conveys the emotional aspects of the story, as when the couple is about to begin their journey that will eventually lead them to America: “Grandma was startled. Why are you all crying?” With a sudden sense of realization, she exclaimed, “For God’s sake, children! You’re not coming back, are you?” A brief history of Caslavsky’s grandparents, who “considered themselves to be part of the long tradition of a free and cultured people,” effectively establishes her profound connection to her family, country, and quest for freedom.

An engaging tale of one couple’s determination to get out from behind the Iron Curtain.

Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-73298-490-5

Page Count: 226

Publisher: Chatham House

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION