Under a Cruel Star

Review by: Anna McIlwain

Because of my being a part of the 2008 Presbyterian Women Global Exchange, I have been reading books recommended to us. These books are about Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Hungary. I hate to admit it, but I did not know much about the countries and still have to read a lot more to feel ready for September of this year.

One book that has made a tremendous impact on me is Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941 – 1968. In this book the author, Heda Margolius Kovaly, tells of her time while a teenager at Auschwitz, then being marched into Germany, and finally escaping.

Heda arrives back in Prague only to find that she is no longer welcome, even among friends. The Nazis have instilled fear into anyone who shelters or befriends a Jew.

One would think that after someone had endured many trials, that at the end of World War II life would change for the better. Kovaly faces other dangers, though, as Czechs come to believe that Communism is the opposite of Nazism.

Because danger lurks in almost every page of this book, it could be unbearable to read. The author, however, writes in such a beautiful style and spirit that the reader can hardly put down her book.

Heda Kovaly loves her country and her city Prague. In a paragraph about how beautiful Prague is in the springtime, she speaks of “the flowering forsythias on the Letna Plain,” “The chesnuts of Zofin,” and “The gulls on Jirasek Bridge.” Then she ends the paragraph in this way:

But what is unique about Prague is the relation between the city and its people. Prague is not an uncaring backdrop which stands impassive, ignoring happiness and suffering alike. Prague lives in the lives of

her people and they repay her with the love we usually reserve for other human beings. Prague is not an aggregate of buildings where people are born, work, and die. She is alive, sad, and brave, and when she

smiles with spring, her smile glistens like a tear.

I heartily recommend this book to all who not only want to read an excellent, heart-wrenching biography, but also would like to know about an important time in the history of Czeckoslovakia and the world.