Shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War, Edith Pargeter made her first trips to a country in whose struggles for freedom she would take a passionate interest for the rest of her life: Czechoslovakia. Deeply affected by all she saw-these sojourns "obviously changed her life," according to her biographer-Pargeter chronicled her travels in The Coast of Bohemia, originally published in England in 1950. It is an unexpectedly fervent volume, offering intriguing perspectives both on a country newly succumbing to Soviet rule and on the normally retiring author as a citizen of the wider world, and it will appeal strongly to fans of Pargeter's many other books, including The Brothers of Gwynned Quartet and those written under her pen name Ellis Peters.