Description

With “A thousand windows” Nassir Djafari tells the moving story of love in the shadow of political upheaval. In April 1972, the Czech journalist Pavel Horak dared to escape from Prague and crossed the border into the West - in the hope that his wife Jana would soon be able to join him. But when the smuggler returns, he doesn't bring Jana with him, but a strange woman.

While Pavel desperately searches for answers in exile and settles into a new life between hope and uncertainty, the story behind Jana's disappearance gradually unfolds. Told in two perspectives, the novel takes us back to the time of the Prague Spring and its violent end - and shows how political decisions have a deep impact on personal fates.

Djafari paints a haunting picture of flight, exile and the torn between leaving and staying. “A thousand windows” is a novel about love, loss and the courage to stand up for self-determination.

press reviews

"Tausend Fenster“ ist ebenso vielschichtige Erzählung über Migration und Machtstrukturen wie rasanter Spannungsroman, dessen potentielle Verfilmung man beim Lesen stets vor Augen hat. Und man kommt nicht umhin, zu spüren, wie sehr sich die Methoden repressiver Systeme damals und heute doch ähneln und muss sich wundern, wie wenig sich im Kern bewegt hat, wenn es um die Bekämpfung der dahinter stehenden Mechanismen geht, der Bekämpfung von Rassismus und Antisemitismus und all der anderen Übel, die auch heute Demokratien von innen heraus bedrohen.

– Gerrit Wustmann (@gerrit.wustmann)