A haunting novel about growing up in a world unhinged by war; a novel about longing, loss, and the search for home. For anyone with an interest in twentieth century history who would like to find out what it might have been like to be on the other side during one of its major conflicts. Lynette is a dreamer. She likes to imagine herself floating on a magic carpet above the city where she lives, Prague. But suddenly her dream becomes a nightmare. The wooden puppet with the moustache drives his black limo through the gates of the castle.She tries to escape into the fairytale world of the wild Waterman but the brutal events of history haul her into the real world. Suddenly, Czechs, Germans, and Jews, who have lived side by side for years, become sworn enemies. Brutally expelled with her family from her homeland, joining the great exodus of Germans from Bohemia...but to what promised land? In memory of the countless children, women and men who were killed or deported from their homelands at the behest or with tolerance of the West for having been unlucky enough to be born as Germans and for whom no Western ruler has ever laid down a wreath.
