Just as everyone is saying that reading is slipping out of fashion, here comes proof that the written word is alive and well. Jízdní řád is a lovely book. It has a good, solid plot with a beginning, a middle and an end. Just like a fine old-fashioned novel. But this volume is pretty new — the latest offering from the legendary Czech publishing house České dráhy, which some may know for their rail subsidiary — yes, they run trains as well as producing fine books.

But be warned, this book is not for the fainthearted. It’s an 860-page humdinger, a roller coaster of a plot that sweeps from Děčín to Dolík, from Ostrava to Ovčáry. The central protagonist in the story, the character pulling the strings, is Praha (rendered in the English edition as Prague).