Beyond the Chestnut Trees: A Memoir

Beyond the Chestnut Trees, is a haunting and deeply personal memoir by Maria Bauer, who escaped Hitler’s invasion of Prague. After 40 years in exile, Bauer makes an unforgettable journey back to her homeland, searching for lost friends and lost loves, and finds the spirit of her beloved city forever changed. Through flashbacks, Bauer weaves the tale of her idyllic childhood, where she spent her summers at her family castle, with her harrowing flight through Europe on the last train leaving Nazi-occupied France. She paints a stirring picture of Prague, wistfully recalling the magical and mystical city of her youth. “I didn’t want to write about Prague’s sufferings under two occupations nor about its heroes and martyrs,” Bauer said. “Many books and movies have recorded them for posterity. But there is more to the story of a city than historical upheavals. Each city has its inner life; and Prague, in the era between the two world wars, had its unique character and a mysterious atmosphere that deeply affected those who grew up amidst its old stones.” This updated edition of Beyond the Chestnut Trees includes a foreword by critically-acclaimed author, Gail Godwin, as well as dozens of compelling photographs from Bauer’s family albums that powerfully reinvigorate her intimate memoir. With the release of this new digital edition, Bauer hopes that, “perhaps, the events that I have described might once again feel more immediate and intimate to my great grandchildren and their generation – and that our tragic and healing experiences will not be forgotten, but will continue to live on in their memories.”

Maria Bauer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1919. She was educated at the Lycée Français de Prague, the University of Prague, and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. As the wife of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, Maria lived in Iran, France, Egypt, and India. She is currently working on a second memoir about those years spent traveling the world. Excerpts have been published in The American Foreign Service Journal, Opera News, a collection of short stories called “A World of Difference,” and a four-volume anthology entitled “Woodstock Originals.” Maria lives in Washington, DC. She has 2 children, 7 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.