Which Way Is Home?
NANCY PAULSEN BOOKS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
Copyright © 2020 by Maria Kiely
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kiely, Maria, author.
Title: Which way is home? / Maria Kiely.
Description: New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, [2020] | Summary: In 1948, following World War II, eleven-year-old Anna, her mother, and older sister must flee Czechoslovakia after Russian Communists take over the government. Includes notes about the author’s family history, on which the story is based.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019054096 | ISBN 9780525516804 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780525516811 (ebk)
Subjects: CYAC: Family life—Czechoslovakia—Fiction. | Refugees—Czechoslovakia—Fiction. | Communism—Fiction. | Czechoslovakia—History—1945–1992—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K544 Whi 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054096
Ebook ISBN 9780525516811
Map art and layout © 2020 by Ethan Crenson and Amanda Alic
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical persons appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
JACKET ART © 2020 BY LUISA RIVERA
COVER DESIGN BY KRISTIE RADWILOWICZ
pid_prh_5.5.0_c0_r0
For Nina & Sam
Because as NaiNai says,
“This is the story of how you all came to be.”
-CONTENTS-
CHAPTER 1: Stormy Weather
CHAPTER 2: Roven
CHAPTER 3: Cousins
CHAPTER 4: Spies Everywhere
CHAPTER 5: Songs of Home
CHAPTER 6: Whom to Trust?
CHAPTER 7: Brave Anna
CHAPTER 8: Geese & Strawberries
CHAPTER 9: Prayers
CHAPTER 10: An Unexpected Journey
CHAPTER 11: Trains, Books, and Gloves
CHAPTER 12: Hotel Blue Star
CHAPTER 13: Learning How to Talk
CHAPTER 14: No-Man’s-Land
CHAPTER 15: Honza
CHAPTER 16: Hiding
CHAPTER 17: The Border
CHAPTER 18: The Ravine
CHAPTER 19: Mud
CHAPTER 20: Road to Nowhere
CHAPTER 21: The Jeep with a Star
CHAPTER 22: The German Post
CHAPTER 23: Which Way Is Home?
CHAPTER 24: Sending a Telegram
CHAPTER 25: Arriving in Regensburg
CHAPTER 26: The Refugee Camp
CHAPTER 27: So Many Refugees
CHAPTER 28: Butter
CHAPTER 29: The Houseboat Hotel
CHAPTER 30: Making Friends
CHAPTER 31: Noodle Pudding
CHAPTER 32: The Boys’ Stories
CHAPTER 33: Music Is Magic
CHAPTER 34: Dreams of Home
CHAPTER 35: Dashed Hopes
CHAPTER 36: No Time for Goodbyes
CHAPTER 37: Bittersweet Messages
CHAPTER 38: Moving On
CHAPTER 39: The Chauffeur
CHAPTER 40: Another Border
CHAPTER 41: Finding Home
Map
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
SUMMER
1948
Chapter 1
STORMY WEATHER
I CAN FEEL the wind in my hair and hear rolls of thunder in the distance. I glance over at my cousin Maruska and see her large blue eyes shining with excitement.
“Look at those clouds! We’re in for a big storm, Anna!” shouts Maruska. She’s perched on the deck of our ship in her nightgown with bare feet, her long light-brown hair still tangled from sleep. I run over and try to grab her hand as Maruska, shrieking with delight, dives into the foamy sea.
“I’ll save you!” I cry, leaping after her. We splash about in the frothy waves, taking turns jumping from the ship into the water. Suddenly Maruska’s eyes widen with fear.
“It’s my father! Look! He’s fallen overboard! He’s drowning! We have to do something!” she yells.
“Hold on! I’m coming!” I call.
The wind howls, and the waves grow higher and higher. I dive into the roiling sea, determined to save my uncle. My fingers graze his arm, which is just out of reach. I struggle to keep my head above the waves, and then, with one desperate lunge, I reach out and grab him. “I’ve got him!” Maruska is at my side, and together we pull him to safety.
We’ve just gotten him onto our ship when Maruska dives back into the water, this time calling out for my father.
“We’ll save you, Papa!” I cry as I follow Maruska into the sea. It takes longer to find my father in the freezing water, but we will not let him drown. Maruska and I are the most powerful swimmers in the world. The sea is no match for us. Maruska grabs my hand, and together we dive under the waves, kicking our legs hard against the pull of the undertow.
Finally, just as the waves are about to claim him, I reach Papa and wrap my arms around his shoulders. Maruska helps me bring him to the ship, and soon we are safely on the deck. We lie flat, panting and trying to catch our breath, but then another wave as tall as a house crashes down upon us. We are all washed overboard, and Maruska and I will have to carry out another rescue mission. We are so brave. We can make it through any storm! Suddenly there is a crash of thunder so loud, it shakes the whole world. The storm stops.
Chapter 2
ROVEN
MARUSKA AND I freeze amid the pile of down comforters. My mother stands ashen-faced in the doorway. Behind her are my aunt, my grandmother, and Franta and Stepan, our two farmhands.
“Anna! Maruska! You’re all right! What were you doing?” my mother cries half in relief, half in anger.
We look up at them in surprise, and then I see the clock on the wall. It’s after nine. We’ve missed breakfast. This weekend is the tenth anniversary of my grand-father’s death, and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins have gathered at my grandparents’ farm in Roven to celebrate his life. My grandfather was an important man—not just to us, but to our country—as he was prime minister of Czechoslovakia before the war. I don’t remember him because he died when I was a baby, but I know he did many great things for the country and was widely loved and respected. There’s going to be a Mass on Sunday with lunch at the farm afterward, and everyone from the village will come, but now I get to enjoy spending time with my cousins.
“I’m sorry, Mama. We were playing and lost track of time.”
“Didn’t you hear us knocking? We thought something terrible had happened. Franta and Stepan had to break down the door!” Mama excl
aims.
“Babicka told me to bolt the door when she went over to the farm kitchen,” I try to explain to Mama and Babicka and the farmhands. I had thought it a strange request, as I had always felt safe in Roven, even during the war, but now everything was changing with the Communist takeover. Not everyone in the village was a friend anymore.
“We thought the banging was just thunder. We’re so sorry,” whispers Maruska.
The grown-ups stare at us in confusion. The morning sun is shining brightly through the window.
“Aha. You were playing Storm at Sea again, weren’t you?” Babicka says. “Didn’t I tell you to get dressed and come have breakfast with us all right away?”
Maruska and I nod meekly. Babicka reaches up to smooth back a strand of loose hair. Her gray hair is usually tied back in a tight bun, but when she lets it down, I think how much she looks like Mama, with a soft round face and warm brown eyes that look kind even when she is upset.
“Well, no one can say you girls don’t have good imaginations,” Babicka says as she begins to laugh.
Soon everyone is laughing with her, including my mother, who wraps her arms around me. I notice my head reaches just below Mama’s chin now.
“All right, then, get dressed. If you hurry, you can still have some buns before they’re cleared away,” Mama says, kissing me on the forehead.
Chapter 3
COUSINS
AFTER BREAKFAST, MARUSKA and I run out to the stables to find our cousin Pavel grooming the horses. He is tall, with thick black hair and an easy smile. Pavel is fourteen, three years older than me, but he never treats me like a little kid, and he always defends me when my older sister, Ruzena, tells me off. He starts laughing as soon as he sees us.
“That must have been one crazy game of Storm at Sea! I’m sorry I missed it. Hey, I’ve got a new joke. Want to hear it?”
“Sure!” Maruska and I reply.
Pavel loves to make us laugh. During the war, he collected anti-Nazi jokes and called them his own form of protest. Even though that war’s over, he still tells them sometimes.
“A man walks into a records office and says, ‘I’d like to change my name.’ The clerk says, ‘Okay, what’s your name?’ The man says, ‘Adolf Stinkyfeet.’ The clerk says, ‘I understand why you’d want to change it. What would you like your new name to be?’ And the man says, ‘Peter Stinkyfeet.’”
We all laugh and Pavel looks pleased.
“Are you almost done? We have so much to talk about.” I stroke the nose of the chestnut mare Pavel was grooming.
“Yes, let’s go!” Pavel hangs the horse brush on the wall hook with a flourish.
We grab our bicycles from the side of the barn and push off, leaving a cloud of dust behind us. I feel a burst of joy that it’s summer and I’m finally with my cousins again. Pavel’s family lives in Prague, while Maruska’s family runs a hotel halfway between here and Prague. My family lives most of the time at Roven, and it’s my favorite place to be—but when my cousins visit, it’s even better.
I know this place well, and my mouth waters as we pass the farm kitchen and inhale the aroma of Babicka’s delicious chicken soup. The comforting sound of Ruzena practicing a Chopin prelude floats through the open parlor window. Her first solo piano concert is in Prague next month, and she’s determined that it will be perfect.
When we arrive at the village road, Pavel and I pause to let Maruska catch up—sometimes I forget that she’s only eight and her legs aren’t as long as ours.
“I’m so happy it’s summer vacation,” I tell Pavel. “Did you have to listen to that minister of education guy on the radio at school? He got everyone really upset.”
“Yeah, we had to listen to that propaganda. Every school was required to play it.” Pavel imitates the minister’s voice: “We are now building the Communist state, and you are the generation that will lead us. We will be victorious, but we have enemies who want to stop us. They are among your parents and your teachers. It is your duty to report them to the party.”
“Stop. You sound just like him,” I say. “We all thought his message was creepy—as if we’d ever become spies for the Communists!”
Pavel shakes his head, and when Maruska catches up to us, we’re off again. When we reach the woods at the edge of the village, we park our bikes and head in deeper on foot. The leaves on the trees have filled in and the brook has widened into a stream, but when we reach our little fort, it’s almost unchanged from when we were here earlier this spring.
This is our special spot. The place where Pavel and I—and now Maruska—come to get away. The place we share our secrets and our worries—but mostly worries lately.
We sit on rocks and I take a deep breath, inhaling the sweet and earthy scents of pine trees, moss, and mushrooms. A ragged handkerchief tied to a branch flaps gently in the breeze.
“Our flag’s still here. I was afraid somebody might have torn it down,” Maruska says, reaching up to touch the cloth.
“Nobody but us knows what it means,” I remind her.
I think of the March day we came out here to hang it to honor the death of Jan Masaryk, the last man to stand for democracy in the new government after the Russian Communists took over. The Communist leaders claimed he’d killed himself, but we knew they had murdered him. Ruzena told me that Papa had proof. The Communist Party had pretended to support the Czech government at first—that’s why they had let Masaryk keep his job—but really they didn’t want anyone else to have power. Two weeks after Masaryk died, Papa took the evidence he had and left the country. Ruzena told me he’s taking it to show the French government to ask them to help remove the Communists.
That was three months ago, and we haven’t heard from Papa since. During the war, he also went into hiding, but he often snuck back to see us—now, with spies for the Russians everywhere, it’s just too risky.
Pavel stands and removes his cap, holding it over his heart.
Maruska and I stand at attention next to Pavel, staring solemnly at the handkerchief. After a moment, we release our salute.
Pavel clears his throat. “Heavenly Father, we pray that you keep Anna’s papa safe so that the truth may be revealed and the Communists will be . . .”
“Kicked out!” Maruska yells.
“And we can all be safe together again!” I say.
“Amen!” Pavel and Maruska both shout.
Chapter 4
SPIES EVERYWHERE
WE CAN USUALLY play for hours at our fort, but today our hearts aren’t into any games and we decide to pick mushrooms instead.
Maruska wanders off in search of larger mushrooms, but I stay close to Pavel.
I lean toward him. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
Pavel stops and looks into my eyes. “What is it?” he asks.
“You know how when we stay in Prague, I like to bring Papa his lunch at the Department of Agriculture?” Pavel nods and I continue. “Well, one day in February, I’d just gotten off the train and was walking to his office when two men stopped me and started asking me questions about Papa.”
“Had you ever seen them before?” asks Pavel.
“No, but I could tell they were Russian secret police, so I acted like I didn’t understand what they were talking about and walked away, but they followed me. When I got to Papa’s building, I didn’t want them to see which office I was going to, so I ran as fast as I could. I squeezed into the elevator just as it was closing and never saw them again.”
“What did your papa say when you told him?”
“I didn’t tell him. I was too scared. I didn’t want to worry him. Now I’m afraid those men might have caught him.”
“Don’t worry—you did the right thing. Besides, I doubt those two could catch your father if they couldn’t keep up with you! He’s one of the smartest and bravest people I know,” Pavel says. “R
emember what a hero he was during the war?”
I smile with pride. Before the war, my father was a Czech diplomat in Paris. Then, when the Nazis took over and the Czech government had to go into exile in London, Papa acted as an Underground spy helping the British army fight the Nazis. Ruzena told me that the firefighters in our village let him set up a special radio to communicate with the BBC in the back of their fire truck. They’d drive him around late at night so he could find out where the Nazis had their weapons and report it to the British intelligence agents. Because of my brave papa, lots of weapons were destroyed and the Nazis were eventually defeated.
A twig snaps loudly behind us, and we look up with a start. Maruska is standing there grinning and holding a basket overflowing with mushrooms.
“Last one home is a rotten goose egg!” she cries, sprinting off toward her bike, and we follow her.
Chapter 5
SONGS OF HOME
BABICKA IS DELIGHTED by our crop of mushrooms. She makes them into a delicious sauce over chicken and knedlíky—her bread dumplings that are as soft and light as air. After dinner, the whole family gathers around the piano. Papa always used to play with Ruzena, but now only Ruzena sits down at the keys.
She begins to play “Koupím Já Si Koně Vraný,” and we all sing along. Ruzena takes the harmony, and Mama and my aunts join in for the chorus. When we finish, everyone applauds.
“Your playing is wonderful. Your father would be so proud,” Babicka says, laying her hand on Ruzena’s shoulder.
Ruzena smiles sadly. “He always said he would be in the front row of every concert when I became a famous pianist.”
I stare out the window wondering if Papa will ever see Ruzena realize her dream, and then I hear a quiet sigh from beside me.
“Are you okay?” I whisper.
“I miss my father,” Maruska whispers back.