Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age
Found a better price? Request a price match
Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age
Latest News
New Hero Alert! Meet Theresa – our new Warehouse Sidekick
We’re thrilled to welcome Theresa to the Book Hero team! Whenever we bring a new...
Our Rolife Range Is Getting Even Bigger!
Our Rolife range is getting even bigger! We’ve got a huge new shipment on the...
How to Make 1000 Piece Puzzles Easier
1000 piece puzzles can seem a little intimidating, but a few simple tricks can make...
Pick up a Microhistory (and become a very niche expert)
If you've seen people talking about a book about Salt and wondered what was happening...
Lizzy's August Reading
Book Hero team member Lizzy is rounding up her reads for August! Check out what...
See moreA trail-blazing, transportive novella that contains all the energy, history and charm of one man's lifetime, this is Bohumil Hrabal's most unique masterpiece.
This ebullient, gallivanting novella encapsulates the world vision of the Czech Republic's best-loved author in one tumbling, breathtaking sentence.
An ageing man holds court, spinning a single, unbroken stream of stories about his life—loves won and lost, jobs taken and abandoned, moments of absurdity and chance. As he talks, the line between memory and invention begins to blur.
Brief Encounters: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.
Series: Brief Encounters
View allBook Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529986105
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 02 July 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Michael Henry Heim
- Translated by Michael Henry Heim
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 8.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 76g
Pages: 96
About the Author
Bohumil Hrabal was born in 1914 in Brno-Zidenice, Moravia. He received a degree in Law from Prague's Charles University, and lived in Prague since the late 1940s. In the 1950s he worked as a manual laborer in the Kladno ironworks, from which he drew inspiration for his \"hyper-realist\" texts he was writing at that time. He won international acclaim for such books as I Served the King of England and Too Loud a Solitude. Hrabal is considered, along with Jaroslav Hasek and Karel Capek, as one of the greatest Czech writers of the 20th century, and perhaps the most important in the post-war period. In February 1997 he flew out of his hospital window never to return.
Also by Bohumil Hrabal
View allMore from General Fiction
View allWhy buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
General Fiction lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!


































