It is summer vacation, 1948 and life for eleven-year-old Anna is tainted by worries about life in her beloved Czechoslovakia. Her family including aunts, uncles and cousins have gathered at her grandparents' farm in Roven on the tenth anniversary of her grandfather's death. He was prime minister of Czechoslovakia before the Second World War.
Before the war, Anna's father was a Czech diplomat in Paris. During World War II and the Nazi occupation, the Czech government went into exile in London, England. Anna's father became a spy in the Czech underground, communicating with the British, providing them with information on the location of Nazi weapons.
On the morning of the anniversary of their grandfather's death, Anna's cousin Pavel who is visiting from Prague, is in the barn grooming the horses. Her other cousin, Maruska, whose family runs a hotel between the farm and Prague is also visiting. Her older sister Ruzena is practicing a Chopin prelude in preparation for her first solo piano concert in Prague next month.
The three children walk along the village road and into the forest, Pavel tells his cousins how he had to listen to the minister of education's propaganda on the radio. The minister told them their parents and teachers are enemies who want to stop the building or the communist state and that it is their duty to report them. They stop to say a prayer for the safety of Anna's father before they decide to pick mushrooms.
On Sunday morning Anna and her family attend church. Afterwards former members of the Czech government in their formal military uniforms pay their respects to Anna's babicka and dedecek. It is a brave and dangerous act. Anna, Ruzena and Maruska along with Pavel tend to their grandfather's grave. Anna tells Pavel that she is frightened because she's been told that the Communists will send those who oppose them to prison.
Several days after the celebration, Anna's mother takes Ruzena to Prague to have a lesson with her piano teacher in preparation for her concert. Pavel has already left for camp, and Maruska's mother Teta J has left to go back to work at their hotel. About a week later, while Anna and Maruska are getting ready for bed, Teta J arrives unexpectedly. She tells Anna that she is to pack quickly as she will be going to visit Pavel at his camp. Maruska is terribly upset when she learns she won't be going along. Anna's babicka gives her a large cloth satchel full of food for the trip which puzzles Anna, but Anna is too excited to think more about this.
Teta J takes Anna to her hotel so she can return her car and then they travel to Prague. Instead of going to their home in Prague, they walk to the apartment of Anna's father's best friend, Dr. V. Inside the apartment is chaos, but Anna is surprised to see her mother and Ruzena. On her way to buy train tickets, Ruzena explains to a very shocked Anna that they are fleeing the country. What will happen to her beloved Babicka, Teta J, Maruska and Pavel? Will she ever see Roven again? The journey to freedom proves to be one that is bittersweet.
Discussion
Which Way Is Home is a short, historical fiction novel based on the real live events experienced by the author's grandmother, mother and aunt as they escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1948. Kiely provides some background context in the novel for her young readers through the characters of Anna and Pavel. Readers learn that the communists have taken over the country and that Anna's father has had to flee because of his opposition to the communists and because he holds sensitive information about the death of Jan Masaryk. They also learn that people who do not support the communist regime are in danger, which is why Anna and her family must also flee.
While young people reading this story in 1960 would probably know who Jan Masaryk was and what had happened in Czechoslovakia, a new generation of readers, over seventy years later, will not. This is where a short prologue might have been helpful, to set the stage for the events in the novel. The map, located at the back of the novel showing Anna's family's journey to freedom could have been placed following the prologue.
During World War II, Evard Benes led the Czechoslovakian government which was in exile in London. In 1945, with the end of the war, Benes returned to lead his country after the Soviet army withdrawal. In 1946, many communists were elected, forcing Benes to form a coalition government with these groups. At this time the U.S. was beginning to see the Soviets not as allies but as a threat to Europe. They wanted to rearm Germany as a deterrent to any Soviet actions, but the Czech government was opposed to this. When the U.S. cancelled a loan to the government, the communists were able to garner more votes in the next election. As the country experienced increasing economic issues and there were more protests, the communists were able to force other parties out of the coalition in early 1948. Rigged elections saw the communists take over the government. Benes resigned and Jan Marasyk, who had been his foreign minister died under questionable circumstances.
This is the situation in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of the novel. Life for Anna and her family on their estate called Roven is still happy and somewhat carefree despite the communist takeover. As her grandfather was prime minister prior to the war, Anna's family still enjoys considerable respect from many people. But increasingly, some like Mr. Z who acts in a threatening manner, are turning against those who supported the former democratic government. And the government is encouraging children to report family who do not support the communists, as Anna's cousin Pavel reveals.
Eventually Anna and her family decide to flee. Kiely effectively portrays the fears, difficulties and sacrifices refugees encounter in leaving a beloved homeland for an unknown destination. This is done in a way that is not overwhelming or too detailed for younger readers. The author sets the stage by painting the idyllic life that Anna and her cousins experience at Roven. The nearby forest is filled with "...the sweet and earthy scents of pine trees, moss and mushrooms...." There is the "...aroma of Babicka's delicious chicken soup..." and her use of their freshly picked mushrooms which she makes "into a delicious sauce over chicken and knedliky - her bread dumplings that are as soft and light as air." And of course Anna has her cousins Pavel and Maruska. But from this warm and loving home, Anna will leave behind everything familiar.
Kiely is able to portray just how vulnerable refugees are in a way that is non-threatening and thought-provoking. Anna, Ruzena and their mother are dependent on many people as they make their escape. They must trust people they do not know, including a guide who they later learn has led people to the Russians rather than to safety. Anna's family arrive in Germany with little money and no where to stay, ending up in a cold and damp houseboat, dependent on a refugee camp for food while they wait to make contact with Anna's father.
They are very much dependent on the kindness and goodwill of those around them. And they do find kindness. Honza, a Boy Scout who unexpectedly becomes part of their group leaving the country, helps them as they walk to the border through "No Man's Land". He and Ruzena grow very close, but in the end go their separate ways. They are treated kindly by the American soldiers who drive them to the German border post. There is the kindness of a German shopkeeper who gives them butter for free as they purchase food with the little money they have.
Anna and her family also reciprocate the acts of kindness. For example, when she and her family encounter two boys begging for food in the refugee camp, they contribute some of their food into the boys' bucket. Anna expresses empathy for their situation, "I try to imagine what it must be like to have nowhere to go, and I almost cry with relief at the knowledge that Papa is coming for us."
The book takes it's title from the question Anna asks her older sister Ruzena after their first night in a hotel. When Ruzena points out the direction and tells her that they are never going back there, Anna begins to cry. It is a scene that emphasizes what many refugees feel; intense sadness, and a sense of loss. However, Which Way Is Home ends on a positive note with Anna's family being reunited. The author includes her own family's story in her Author's Note at the back.
This short, well-written novel is reminiscent of juvenile historical fiction written in the 1940s and 1950s by authors like Kate Seredy and Marie McSwigan. Highly recommended.
Book Details:
Which Way Is Home by Maria Kiely
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books 2020
179 pp.
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