Closely Watched Trains

Bohumil Hrabal, Edith Pargeter

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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Czech

Penguin
15 July 2025

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction in translation

Series: Penguin Archive

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books

Closely Watched Trains tells the story of Milos Hrma, a young railroad apprentice coming of age in wartime Czechoslovakia. Milos is overwhelmed with worries - about his virginity, his love for the conductor, and ongoing scandals in the stationmaster's office - besides which the idea of fighting the Germans seems a simple affair. Poignant, humorous and the inspiration behind the 1966 Academy Award-winning film, this is a small masterpiece from one of the best Czech writers of the twentieth century.

By: Bohumil Hrabal
Translated by: Edith Pargeter
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 180mm, Width: 110mm, Spine: 6mm
Weight: 73g
ISBN: 9780241752142
ISBN 10: 0241752140
Series: Penguin Archive
Pages: 112
Publication Date: 15 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Bohumil Hrabal was one of the most important and admired Czech writers of the twentieth century. He was born and raised in Brno in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914. After working as a railway labourer, insurance agent, travelling salesman, manual labourer, paper-packer and stagehand, he published a collection of poetry that was quickly withdrawn by the communist regime. His best-known books include I Served the King of England, Closely Watched Trains (made into an Academy Award-winning film directed by Jiri Menzel) and Too Loud a Solitude. In 1997, he fell to his death from the fifth floor of a Prague hospital, apparently trying to feed the pigeons.