Why Didn't They Leave?

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Pub Date 28 Sep 2021 | Archive Date 27 Oct 2021
The Book Guild | Book Guild Publishing

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Description

You can’t ask for asylum in another country just because your mother drives you nuts, so when 19-year-old Zuzana flees from communist Czechoslovakia to England in 1972, she says she just wants freedom. Her relationship with her mother, Magda – a Holocaust survivor who lost most of her family in the concentration camps – is toxic and Zuzana finds happiness in London with a loving husband and beautiful son.

But when her mother dies, Zuzana is crushed by guilt and feels an overwhelming urge to discover more about her family’s tragic history. So, she embarks on a life-changing journey, discovers some incredible stories and tries to answer the question which haunts her: Why didn’t they leave?

"Eva Hnizdo’s Why Didn’t They Leave illuminates the lives of one extended family from the beginning of Naziism. With meticulous detail and heart-wrenching scenes Hnizdo offers answers through her characters’ actions as to why some chose to remain in their homeland and others fled. A story filled with history and heartache... survival and hope." – Julie Maloney, author and founder/director of Women Reading Aloud 

"Eva Hnizdo has turned her own story into a gripping work of fiction that follows a secular Czech Jewish family’s fortunes during World War Two through communism to a multi-cultural life in Britain. Her book says much about prejudice and tolerance, survivors’ guilt and the emotional challenges of motherhood, all through the voice of her extrovert and sexy heroine." – Brigid Grauman, journalist and author of Uncle Otto's Puppet Theatre

"Zuzana is haunted by the choices that her family made during the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia and later during the Communist regime. Her discoveries make for a compelling story of loyalty, love, and courage." – Jacqueline Sheehan, author



You can’t ask for asylum in another country just because your mother drives you nuts, so when 19-year-old Zuzana flees from communist Czechoslovakia to England in 1972, she says she just wants...


A Note From the Publisher

Eva Hnizdo is a Jewish Czech, born in Prague in 1953. She is the granddaughter of a man who lost his life by deciding not to emigrate in 1938, and a daughter of parents who, after surviving the Holocaust, spent most of their adult lives under an oppressive communist regime. Eva studied medicine at Charles University in Prague and became a doctor.

Eva Hnizdo is a Jewish Czech, born in Prague in 1953. She is the granddaughter of a man who lost his life by deciding not to emigrate in 1938, and a daughter of parents who, after surviving the...


Advance Praise

"Eva Hnizdo’s Why Didn’t They Leave illuminates the lives of one extended family from the beginning of Naziism. With meticulous detail and heart-wrenching scenes Hnizdo offers answers through her characters’ actions as to why some chose to remain in their homeland and others fled. A story filled with history and heartache... survival and hope." – Julie Maloney, author and founder/director of Women Reading Aloud 

"Eva Hnizdo has turned her own story into a gripping work of fiction that follows a secular Czech Jewish family’s fortunes during World War Two through communism to a multi-cultural life in Britain. Her book says much about prejudice and tolerance, survivors’ guilt and the emotional challenges of motherhood, all through the voice of her extrovert and sexy heroine." – Brigid Grauman, journalist and author of Uncle Otto's Puppet Theatre

"Zuzana is haunted by the choices that her family made during the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia and later during the Communist regime. Her discoveries make for a compelling story of loyalty, love, and courage." – Jacqueline Sheehan, author

"Eva Hnizdo’s Why Didn’t They Leave illuminates the lives of one extended family from the beginning of Naziism. With meticulous detail and heart-wrenching scenes Hnizdo offers answers through her...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781915122049
PRICE $6.99 (USD)
PAGES 200

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Average rating from 9 members


Featured Reviews

This is such a beautoful book that follows a jewish family from Czechoslovakia being persecuted by both the Naxis and the communists. It was a heartbreaking and hopeful story that I simply could not put down. It was breathtaking. I loved it

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I have so many mixed feelings about this book and give it 2.5 stars. From the description I thought I would love it, but it was the opposite. If it wasn't for the last part of the book I would have given it 2 stars. There were so many characters to keep track of and at times it got confusing. I HATED the characters, mainly Magda. Magda was awful. She was a terrible mother. I hated the way she talked to her daughter. Magda liked her mom Franzi living with her so that she could do all the housework, cook and take care of Zuzana. If Zuzana didn't emigrate, she probably would have killed her mother. There was no way they could live together. I don't know how Zuzana's husband and in-laws didn't see the true Magda. How could they miss the insults she gave Adam and Zuzana. The racism was also hard to ignore. It felt like what the family went through during the war was glossed over and was the shortest part of the book. The Stein family was pretty lucky, since they were so wealthy. They didn't seem to suffer as much as some families after the war. They also had the luxury of constantly traveling. For me, the book was more about the terrible family relationships than WWII and what happened to Czechoslovakia after the War. The best part of the book was when Zuzana visits her relatives in the United States.

Definitely recommend giving the book a try. I'm in the minority with my thoughts. I look forward to reading more books by the author

I received a complimentary copy of this book from The Book Guild, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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This story started out very interesting for me but it kind of dragged on towards the end. I felt some parts were unnecessary and it seems to take away the essence of the story which is a shame cause I really enjoyed the premise of the story.

The main character, nineteen year old Zuzana, learnt that she was Jewish when she visited a synagogue with her family and they began looking for names of their lost relatives. She felt betrayed her mother, Magda, never told her but she didn’t understand what her family went through during the Holocaust. Magda only wanted her to have a better life. Zuzana never got along with Magda and she isn’t always the best mother but they learnt to tolerate each other as best as they could.

I loved reading about Zuzana’s family history and what her family went through. Hnizdo takes us back in time when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. She takes us through three generations of this Czech Jewish family, why some chose to stay and why some chose to leave. We learned what happened to those who survived the Holocaust and how the trauma had affected their lives over the years.

More than that, Hnizdo also wrote about the strained relationship between Magda and Zuzana. She eventually left the clutches of her mother and seek for a better life in the UK. Zuzana tried hard to rediscover herself and uncover all that she didn’t know by reconnecting with lost family members.

I may not have enjoyed this story as much but I would still recommend giving this story a go if you enjoy historical fiction and family stories that spans generations. Thank you Netgalley and The Book Guild for the arc.

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I dont want to say anything negative about this book as I am aware that it is based on a the author's own personal history of loss and grief. I will say, though, that the book felt quite overwhelming to me with the multiple family trees at the beginning. I thought it was going to be exclusively about the wartime experiences, but it actually expanded on into generations to come, telling the story through Magda's eyes. I felt quite emotionally exhausted by the end of reading it, its a story that deserves and needs to be told again and again

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Thinly disguised as fiction this book has its roots in family history and autobiography. Reading it was an emotional rollercoaster, at times heart-breaking, and other times heart-warming. It traces a large Jewish Czech family from the rise of Nazism to the beginning of this century. The diaspora caused first by the Nazis and later by the Soviet regime is all-too authentic and a harrowing reminder of Ukraine today.
The author writes with honesty and integrity, in bold and brave brush strokes, flinching from nothing. An important memoir of times we must never forget.

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Overall this was a fun, exciting book that gave me several hours of escapism. Id definitely read other books released by this author.

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