First published 2021
Franz Kafka sits at his desk in Prague, crafting another letter to Ottla, his younger sister born in 1892. Through decades of correspondence lasting until his death in 1924, Franz reveals himself as a caring brother who offers humor and support. Ottla defies their parents to pursue her chosen career and marries a Czech Christian man. When the Nazis rise to power, she divorces her husband to protect his professional standing. She moves to Theresienstadt and volunteers to escort children on a transport to Auschwitz in October 1943. Franz works as a government servant at an insurance institute while battling tuberculosis that begins with a hemorrhage in 1917. The letters show a side of Kafka rarely seen, a man capable of compassion and decent company rather than the tortured artist of legend. Ottla becomes the only person Franz trusts completely, their bond sustained across twenty-five years of written words.
Genres: biography, family, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Prague, Theresienstadt, Auschwitz
Period: 1917, 1924, 1943
139 pages · Paperback · Independently published