View a FREE sample

Section 1 (through page 27)

• Dr. Vaclav Orlik arrives at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague for the funeral of his friend, Kaspar Joachim Utz.

• The year is 1974 and the communists still have a stranglehold over Czechoslovakia. To ensure people are not caught up in the Christian rituals, the state insists Utz's funeral start at 8:00 a.m.
• Orlik meets Utz's old maid Marta. They are the only people present during the burial.

• Utz and Marta arrive at the Hotel Bristol for the breakfast Utz had arranged before his death. Again, they are the only two present. After a couple of drinks, Marta is laughing and toasting a stuffed bear across from their table.
• The narrator first arrived in Prague in 1967, the year before Soviet tanks over ran the city. He is there to research a book about art collecting and his friend suggests he visits Utz, a collector of Meissen...

(read more Chapter Abstracts)

This section contains 1,742 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample