This is for you, those many people who never read my book “Why Didn’t They Leave?”

Maybe you should ! You can access it here. Now you probably think: “The cheek, how dare she telling us what to read?” Well, maybe it will make you curious.  I am a very curious woman, and being a family doctor was a perfect job for this, people tell you things.  I’m retired now. ^{What is the book about?}

Family saga of a Czech Jewish family- 1938-2006.

“Oh,not another Holocaust book!” you probably think. Holocaust only takesabout a third of the book, but of course, while those survivors are still among us, it will never go away. So yep, maybe it is “another Holocaust book”. The main protagonist, Zuzana, like me, was born after the war, into communist Czechoslovakia.She had a very difficult mother (like I did). Loving, too, although you have to dig deep to find that love.

 I am not Zuzana; I wish I were. She is bolder than I ever was. Her mother is my mother, though, the only character in the book who is not fictitious. Are you curious yet? I hope so.

Whenever members of my family thought about emigration and did not, it was a mistake. 1938-that mistake cost many of them their life, 1948 when the communist came to power, 1968 when the Soviet Union crashed the Prague Spring, … I was determined not to make the same mistake. So, after trying to get the permission to go abroad for a short break, I managed to emigrate. Hmmmm. It was 1986 and only 3 years after, the communist regime crumbled. Did I make a mistake? Should a book written about me be called “Why didn’t she stay?” I lost my roots, and now I can just fly. I am a pork eating, Christmas celebrating Czech Jew living in England. Am I lost, not belonging anywhere? No,it makes me free. I don’t miss my roots. However, those refugees that are everywhere nowadays, are not as lucky as I was. Coming from a communist country, obtaining political asylum was simple.  I didn’twant my children to be lied to in school like I was, I wanted them to be free. I was not free, living in a communist country, but nobody tried to kill me in Prague.  I feel like wearing a big logo on a t-shirt:  BE KIND TO REFUGEES, NEXT TIME IT COULD BE YOU But I only wear t shirts in the gym. So,what is my book about? Emigration, racism, antisemitism, living in a foreign country , and difficult mother daughter relationships, about love, and indifference, and dislike (hate might be too strong a word). It’s about Czechoslovakia, England, Caribbean. And yes, it is about people being different. But we shouldn’t forget that we are all the same species.  We are all people, and the differences are small.