Last Butterfly Edition: First - Hardcover

Michael Jacot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0672519267 ISBN 13: 9780672519260

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Co, 1974

Synopsis

Czechoslovakia. The Nazi occupation. A Europe consumed by death. Antonin Karas is a comedian whose jokes have gone stale, a funny man weighed down by a sadness so heavy he can no longer make people laugh. He returns to a Prague that has changed since the beginning of the war. Men and women wear yellow Stars of David on their coats. Outside the city there is a new "Jewish State," the concentration camp of Terezin. Antonin is a Jew and he is frightened, but he masks his fear with hollow pride. They will not come for him. He is a great artist. But they do come for him. When he is forced to "volunteer" to entertain children at Terezin, Antonin is introduced to new dimensions of terror and inhumanity. A shipment of Polish children arrive whose parents have been gassed at the extermination camp of Auschwitz. The mere sight of shower heads sets them screaming. Soon, incredibly, Antonin is performing for them and making them laugh and forget. As he moves closer to death, we watch him come to life. He learns courage and compassion. His soul, like a butterfly set free, survives.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Co
• Publication date: 1974
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0672519267
• ISBN 13: 9780672519260
• Binding: Hardcover