Crumbs and shards

Vladimír Kolár published several books inspired by events from his early childhood and adolescence, which he depicted against the backdrop of social events. In his new book, Pieces and Shards, he firmly places his life experiences in the context of life in Prague, later in a new housing estate in Ostrava, where he spent most of his time until he was eighteen, and the return of the entire family to Prague. The family has been incomplete for seven years, with the author' s father spending them in various prisons after an illegal sentence for alleged treason and sabotage. All three children live almost normal lives, their devoted mother protects them from the drastic shocks of reality, bravely solving problems that seem unsolvable. The price is high; to save her family, she sacrificed her successful literary career, which she exchanged for a job in a wholesale warehouse, and her health. Not only joys and moments of happiness, but also critical moments in life come to life before our eyes, all against the backdrop of an emerging and developing housing estate adjacent to the forest and the Odra River, with its marshes and dangerous remnants of the battles of World War II.