There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett: book review

There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett (2019) is set in Prague in the Czech Republic, formerly Czechoslovakia, in 1938 and 1980, and in Melbourne, Australia, in 1980.

Malá Liška's grandma Mána and her grandpa Bill Kopek live in Melbourne, filling their apartment with memories of their former home in Prague, and the smell of homemade cakes which Malá loves. Malá Liška, the young girl, is called the Little Fox.

Ludek, who is older than Malá, lives with his grandma Babi in Prague, because Mama has gone. Mána and Bill from Australia visit them in Prague sometimes. Babi and Mána are sisters – two old laughing ladies. Ludek, the young boy, is called by his nickname, but his real name is Ludoslav.

No one ever talked about before. Before Melbourne was Prague. The turning point was at the gymnastics stadium – The Great Strahov Stadium in Czechoslovakia – in 1980.

This is the story of two sisters and two grandchildren, living thousands of kilometres apart. Despite the struggles, migration, and distance, there was still love. This is a beautifully, poignantly-told love story.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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