The titular hero of the first novella, ten-year-old Oskar, is dying of cancer and spends the last ten days of his life in the hospital. He has an endless conversation about God and faith with his old nurse Růženka. Each dance changes a whole decade of life for Oskar. Seriously and with humor, they both face the questions about the meaning of life. In his reflections, the immediacy of a child is combined with the wisdom of a dying person. The second novella tells the story of a priest who shelters Jewish children in a Catholic boarding house during the war. The story is told from the point of view of Josífek, the child whose rescue is at stake. The parents, expecting deportation, entrust him to a courageous priest who shelters a group of Jewish children in a boarding school. In addition to the children themselves, he also saves their culture: he secretly collects the cult objects of Judaism and ensures that the children do not lose contact with their origin and religion. The last of the books is the story of a Jewish boy's friendship with an old Arab. Moses lives with his father in the suburbs of Paris. They do not find their way to each other, so little Momo visits Mr. Ibrahim's colonial more and more often, with whom they debate about life and Islam. After the death of his father, an old Arab adopts Moses and they go on a holiday trip to Ibrahim's birthplace, where the Arab dies and the adolescent Momo takes over his colonialism, faith and life philosophy.
Prague, Garamond, 2011, 237 pages, 978-80-7407-123-2, hardcover, new.