Prague in the Heart is a collection of one hundred and eighty-nine true stories of events that have taken place in Prague over the past two hundred years. They show that the recent past has been no less dramatic and convoluted than in medieval times. Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Seifert, Bohumil Hrabal,
Jaroslav Hašek, Jan Patočka, Jiří Dienstbier and Václav Havel were all residents of Prague. Occupying armies marched through Prague. There was a battle for Czechoslovak Radio in the Vinohrady quarter of Prague. Czech patriots were executed in Kobylisy, Prague. Dissidents were detained at
Ruzyně in Prague. A Reich Protector was assassinated in Prague. And neighborhoods like Smíchov, Karlín and Libeň, once industrial areas, recorded the history of the Industrial Age – a time when poverty was intertwined with achievement, progress, and hope for a better future. Prague in the
Heart is not an exhaustive historical study, but a remarkable literary statement from a renowned author who loves her city.
