For gauche young apprentice Miloš Hrma, life at the small but strategic railway station in Bohemia in 1945 is full of complex preoccupations. There is the exacting business of dispatching German troop trains to and from the toppling Eastern front; the problem of ridding himself of his burdensome innocence; and the awesome scandal of Dispatcher Hubička's gross misuse of the station's official stamps upon the telegraphtist's anatomy. Beside these, Miloš's part in the plan for the ammunition train seems a simple affair.

Closely Observed Trains, which became the award-winning Jiři Menzel film of 'The 'Prague Spring', is a classic of postwar literature, a small masterpiece of humour, humanity and heroism which fully justifies Hrabal's reputation as one of the best Czech writers.