Take Me To The Castle

I discovered F C Malby via Twitter and was interested to read her book set in the new Czech Republic at the time of its transition from Communism as this is a country and period that I don't know much about. Our heroine, Jana, is a young Czech woman whose father died struggling against the former regime. Jana has absorbed his belief in democracy but is unable to adjust to the speed and breadth of the changes sweeping her homeland. This is a fascinating situation for a character to find themselves in and I was disappointed that it was not fully explored. Instead the main angle of the novel is Jana trying to decide which of two potential suitors she wants to begin a relationship with. I enjoyed the descriptions of Prague and this is now definitely a city I would like to visit one day. The more rural Letovice was also easy to picture and it would have been nice to have learned more about it. I was frustrated by the extensive repetition of both Jana's and Lukas' thoughts, especially when they were used in lieu of direct conversation that would have advanced the plot more successfully. At one point, Jana demands to know why Lukas betrayed her father, yet as soon as he begins to speak, she decides she won't listen after all and we read yet more meandering thoughts. I found this quite infuriating and was also disappointed that the story I really wanted to learn - that of Tatinek and Lukas - only ever played second fiddle to a traditional triangular romance that I don't think was convincing. I think Take Me To The Castle is a reasonable read and I passed a pleasant couple of sunny afternoons with it, but it wasn't completely satisfying.