Beautiful book. Tales of a youth between eras. Being born right at the beginning of the 20th century, Urzidil tells stories of a magical early childhood, demonstrating an incredible memory and sensitivity toward human destinies from all walks of life. Other stories witness a love for a vibrant city full of poets and erudition, community across classes and languages, followed by a heartbreak, as the young German soon realises that he is no longer welcome in the city he loved and grew up in, Prague.