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Gerta

A Novel

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Gerta

By: Kateřina Tučková, Véronique Firkusny - translator
Narrated by: Liza Seneca
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About this listen

The award-winning novel by Czech author Kateřina Tučková - her first to be translated into English - about the fate of one woman and the pursuit of forgiveness in a divided postwar world.

1945. Allied forces liberate Nazi-occupied Brno, Moravia. For Gerta Schnirch, daughter of a Czech mother and a German father aligned with Hitler, it’s not deliverance; it’s a sentence. She has been branded an enemy of the state. Caught in the changing tides of a war that shattered her family - and her innocence - Gerta must obey the official order: she, along with all ethnic Germans, is to be expelled from Czechoslovakia. With nothing but the clothes on her back and an infant daughter, she’s herded among thousands, driven from the only home she’s ever known. But the injustice only makes Gerta stronger, more empowered, and more resolved to seek justice. Her journey is a relentless quest for a seemingly impossible forgiveness. And one day, she will return.

Spanning decades and generations, Kateřina Tučková’s breathtaking novel illuminates a long-neglected episode in Czech history. One of exclusion and prejudice, of collective shame versus personal guilt, all through the eyes of a charismatic woman whose courage will affect all the lives she’s touched. Especially that of the daughter she loved, fought for, shielded, and would come to inspire.

©2009 by Kateřina Tučková. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2021 by Véronique Firkusny.
Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Jewish War & Military World War II War Military
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Critic reviews

“The story is an unvarnished chronicle of a young woman doing what she must to protect herself and her daughter.”—Historical Novel Society

“I think [Gerta] is beautiful and relevant. One of its basic themes is the expulsion of the German population from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, but as a whole the novel carries a much broader theme that seems crucial to me today—that the mutual problems between people and nations will not be solved simply by an acknowledgment, and not even by an apology. An apology is just the beginning. We can admit our own guilt, take it on ourselves, but an even more difficult and important step, which is not spoken of so much and for which there are no laws or entitlements, is forgiveness—whether toward others or toward ourselves. For me, Gerta is a book about forgiveness.”—Alice Nellis, director of the Czech TV adaptation of Gerta (English translation by Véronique Firkusny)

“A great book…Immediately after reading, [Gerta] is unforgettable…Although she certainly did not plan for it, Katerina Tucková wrote a novel that should be required reading.”—Jan Hübsch, Lidovky

What listeners say about Gerta

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true Story

WHAT A SUPERB EDITING HAS BEEN DONE FOR THIS BOOK - ALL CHAPTERS ARE NAMED - EASY TO NAVIGATE! IT'S BASED ON TRUE STORY.I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO BUY & LISTEN TO THIS ORIGINAL VERSION IN CZECH LANGUAGE AS THIS IS A CZECH WRITER & VERY MUCH INTERESTED IN CZECH BOOKS! UPDATE: STILL NO CZECH VERSION - AUDIBLE SHOULD REMOVE TITLES FROM THE CZECH CATEGORIES IF NOT IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGE

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Ruined by American aurator

Such a pity a really good story ruined by the narrator
Why chose an American from the start I nearly didn’t bother to listen because of the terrible American accent and American isms this is a great story and should have been read by a european also repeated use of supposedly was very annoying
Great book very badly narrated

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