Free (Kobo) Beyond the Chestnut Trees by M. Bauer [WWII Survivor Biographical Memoir]

[ATDrake]

Beyond the Chestnut Trees: A Memoir by Maria Bauer is the author's biographical tale of her life before and after her escape from Prague during WWII, mixing childhood memories with adult journeys into the post-war landscape, written in a somewhat literary style, free courtesy of publisher NBC Publishing, who are indeed related to the US network channel.

This is a fairly nice edition, with period photos sprinkled throughout, plus an introduction by National Book Award finalist author Gail Godwin (Wikipedia).

Currently free @ Kobo (available to Canadians, possibly on an exclusive basis and thus not free at all elsewhere).

Actually, I have reason to believe this is a lingering glitch freebie, since it's definitely decidedly not free in any of the other stores (and NBC is usually pretty good about spreading their freebies all around) and will probably go away after they realize it's still there. But it's lasted just over a week thus far, so maybe it'll go for a few more hours unlike some of the other recent Kobo-available freebies which I'd thought would be reasonably "safe" for another day or two.

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook alert thread of the day.

(Though I would have picked the Nicolson British wetlands artbook for this slot, if that had been a real, available-now freebie, and not the possibly-glitch pre-order which might never actually materialize.)

Enjoy!

Description
Beyond the Chestnut Trees, is a haunting and deeply personal memoir by Maria Bauer, who escaped Hitler's invasion of Prague. After 40 years in exile, Bauer makes an unforgettable journey back to her homeland, searching for lost friends and lost loves, and finds the spirit of her beloved city forever changed. Through flashbacks, Bauer weaves the tale of her idyllic childhood, where she spent her summers at her family castle, with her harrowing flight through Europe on the last train leaving Nazi-occupied France.

She paints a stirring picture of Prague, wistfully recalling the magical and mystical city of her youth. I didn't want to write about Prague's sufferings under two occupations nor about its heroes and martyrs, Bauer said. Many books and movies have recorded them for posterity. But there is more to the story of a city than historical upheavals. Each city has its inner life; and Prague, in the era between the two world wars, had its unique character and a mysterious atmosphere that deeply affected those who grew up amidst its old stones.

The eBook edition of Beyond the Chestnut Trees includes a foreword by critically-acclaimed author, Gail Godwin, as well as dozens of compelling photographs from Bauer's family albums that powerfully reinvigorate her intimate memoir. With the release of this new digital edition, Bauer hopes that, perhaps, the events that I have described might once again feel more immediate and intimate to my great grandchildren and their generation and that our tragic and healing experiences will not be forgotten, but will continue to live on in their memories.

[Froide]

Not free in the USA at Kobo.

[ATDrake]

I'm sorry to hear that. I started skimming this and it's quite nice and we so rarely get non-fiction freebies from the print-backed larger publishing houses these days.

Still free in Canada, for those who can get it there.