Release Date: February 1, 2021 from Amazon Crossing
We’re excited to introduce you to the gifted Czech author, Kateřina Tučková and her award-winning novel, GERTA, her first to be translated into English by the talented Véronique Firkusny (Amazon Crossing; February 1, 2021; $24.95). Set in Brno, a city in the South Moravian region of the Czech Republic and the author’s hometown, GERTA is a breathtaking story of a woman’s courage and empowerment in postwar Czechoslovakia and explores themes of guilt and responsibility, forgiveness and repentance. It won the Magnesia Litera Readers’ award and was short-listed for the Jiří Orten Award, the Josef Škvorecký Award and the Magnesia Litera in the prose category.
SYNOPSIS: It’s late spring 1945. Allied forces liberate Nazi-occupied Brno, Moravia. For Gerta Schnirch, daughter of a Czech mother and a German father aligned with Hitler, it’s not deliverance; it’s a sentence. She has been branded an enemy of the state. Caught in the changing tides of a war that shattered her family—and her innocence—Gerta must obey the official order: she, along with all ethnic Germans, is to be expelled from Czechoslovakia. With nothing but the clothes on her back and an infant daughter, she’s herded among thousands toward Vienna, later to be termed The Brno Death March, where many die from typhoid and dysentery. Gerta and a handful of other German women manage to save themselves by doing forced labor in southern Moravia, where they remain for several years. After reclaiming her Czechoslovakian citizenship, Gerta returns to Brno, where she lives through the turbulent events of the second half of the twentieth century. But the discrimination only makes Gerta stronger and more empowered to seek justice. Her journey is a relentless quest for a seemingly impossible forgiveness.
Here is the full blog tour schedule that will include reviews, interviews, exclusive excerpts, and book giveaways:
Monday, February 1 – Hasty Book List
Tuesday, February 2 – Women Writers Women’s Books
Wednesday, February 3 – The Constant Reader
Thursday, February 4 – Crystals Library
Saturday, February 6 – Tina May Reads
Sunday, February 7 – Suzy Approved Book Reviews
Tuesday, February 9 – Grace J Reviewerlady
Wednesday, February 10 – Jessica Belmont
Thursday, February 11 – Storeybook Reviews
Friday, February 12 – Monika’s Book Blog
Saturday, February 13 – Life of a Bookworm
Monday, February 15 – Booxoul
Tuesday, February 16 – Long and Short Reviews
Wednesday, February 17 – Girl Who Reads
Thursday, February 18 – Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb
Friday, February 19 – The Bookish Brunette
Sunday, February 21 – Book Nerd Kat
Monday, February 22 – Bookstasam
Tuesday, February 23 – One Chapter At A Time
Wednesday, February 24 – Sue The Bookie
Thursday, February 25 – The Best of Both Pages
Friday, February 26 – Stranded in Chaos
Sunday, February 28 – Bargain and Books
Monday, March 1 – Read with Joshie
