The Strangely Surreal Adventures of Sylvia Smetana

"A beautiful and thought-provoking novel...."

The Strangely Surreal Adventures of Sylvia Smetana is an intriguing novel, which opens in medieval Prague, a city at the heart of Bohemia, with its unique source of Moldavite, a green gemstone laid down by a meteorite at the dawn of history. Sylvia, the protagonist, has an instinctive affinity to the city, which is where her own mother was born. But in modern Britain this is at odds with her burgeoning career at a prestigious girls' boarding school - an institution steeped in hierarchy and eccentricity, which Meira Eliot describes with an irresistible meld of humour and satire. However, gradually her affection for Prague draws her back again and again and she discovers that there are unexpected links between the old city and those ancient Etruscan civilisations that instigated the spread of culture and architecture across continents. She learns also that many of these legends stretch back to biblical times, and that there are even connections pulling at her own roots. Her life and purpose are transformed by these revelations. The Strangely Surreal Adventures of Sylvia Smetana takes you on a satisfying journey, providing food for thought long after the book is closed - a journey well worth travelling.