From the Bohemian Hills - by Randall Reyman (Paperback)

About the Book

FROM THE BOHEMIAN HILLS is a multi-generational saga of desperate 19th-century Bohemian immigrants pitting their virtues against survival and their values against practicality.

Book Synopsis

It's 1859, and Josef's family suffers as most Bohemian families suffered for generations under the heavy thumb of the Habsburgs. Will Josef fight to survive, or will he finally give up and take his own life putting an end to his suffering? Josef decides to persevere, but he soon has regrets as he is conscripted into the Austrian Army to fight in Italia. Injured in battle, he struggles to get home only to find his wife, Frantiska, is now dreaming of a new life in America. But saving the money for such a venture is difficult when they can barely put food on the table. Finally, after much sacrifice, Josef and his friend, Vaclav, pool their resources to secure passage for their families on a sailing ship to America. But America presents its own difficulties, and the two families settle in eastern Iowa with no money reserves. A preacher arrives one day seeking donations for his planned church construction, and Josef chases him off. But soon, Josef and the preacher find their lives intersecting in curious ways, pitting Josef's anti-religious ideas against the preacher's strong faith. Their relationship is soon tested when Josef becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a local thug. Will the preacher stand by him, believing in Josef's innocence? Or will he decide that Josef is a lost soul incapable of redemption?

Not since Willa Cather's My Antonio has the plight of early Bohemian immigrants been depicted with such clarity and richness. From the Bohemian Hills is a story of desperate people pitting their virtues against survival and their values against practicality. It is a timeless tale confirming that persistence of will and faith can endure the strain of relentless adversity. From the Bohemian Hills, with its combination of precise historical context and vivid characters, creates a saga that truly brings the plight of early Bohemian immigrants to life.

Praise for FROM THE BOHEMIAN HILLS:

"I greatly enjoyed Randall Reyman's new novel, From the Bohemian Hills; its compelling plot made it hard to put this book down. The novel's storyline takes the reader on the emigrant-immigrant's journey as imagined from the perspective to two main-character families and an additional cast of both real and imagined characters that together, present a variety of contemporary viewpoints and thus a more greatly nuanced story. Thus, Reyman's approach gives us a primer in Czech history that further puts his fictional story into a larger historic context. The reader of Bohemian Hills will not soon forget its history lessons through Reyman's unforgettable characters."

D.J.B., Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International

Review Quotes

[FROM THE BOHEMIAN HILLS takes] "the reader on the emigrant-immigrant's journey as imagined from the perspective [...] of a cast of both real and imagined characters that together, present a variety of contemporary viewpoints and thus a more greatly nuanced story. Thus, Reyman's approach gives us a primer in Czech history that further puts his fictional story into a larger historic context. Besides its not insubstantial entertainment value, his story illustrates the overwhelming poverty, a rigid (and humiliating) class system and the lack of opportunity for social and economic mobility for most people in the oppressive police state of the Hapsburg monarchy. The reader of Bohemian Hills will not soon forget its history lessons through Reyman's unforgettable characters. Its compelling plot made it hard to put down." D.J.B., Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International

"Fiction and fact are nicely woven together to tell a story of the life of Bohemian villagers under kings and empires, their struggles and the difficult decision to leave Bohemia, journey across the sea, and begin new lives in a new country. Randall Reyman's author's notes, acknowledgements and supporting images were very helpful and appreciated." R.L., Czech and Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois