Edith Pargeter

Young nobleman of 13th-century England becomes a brilliant sculptor and uses his talents to build a great church and to champion the cause of the poor.

"Bohumil Hrabal's post-war classic about a young man's coming of age in German-occupied Czechoslovakia is among his most beloved and accessible works. Closely Watched Trains is the subtle and poetic portrait of Miloš Hrma, a timid young railroad apprentice who insulates himself with fantasy against a reality filled with cruelty and grief. Day after day as he watches trains fly by, he torments himself with the suspicion that he himself is being watched...