Cutting it short - Bohumil Hrabal

'As I crammed the cream horn voraciously into my mouth, at once I heard
Francin's voice saying that no decent woman would eat a cream puff like
that'

In a quiet town where not much happens, Maryska, the
flamboyant brewer's wife, stands out. She cuts her skirt short so that
she can ride her bicycle, her golden hair flying out behind her. She
butchers pigs. She drinks and eats with relish. And when the garrulous
ranconteur Uncle Pepin comes to visit the locals are scandalized even
further, in Bohumil Hrabal's affecting, exuberant portrayal of a small
central European community between the wars.

'One of the greatest European prose writers' Philip Roth

'Hrabal combines good humour and hilarity with tenderness' Observer