Book excerpt: From Nazi Europe to Canada in the 1970s, The Engineer of Human Souls is an epic novel spanning the most tumultuous decades of the twentieth century. This is the story of Danny Smiricky, a Czech writer who flees his country in 1968 to find refuge in the seemingly peaceful world of Canadian academia. Despite the new life Danny creates for himself, he is haunted by memories of his homeland, of the woman he loved there, his time in the resistance, and the memory of a very different world with very different people. The Engineer of Human Souls is both a tragic history of East and West since the Second World War and a labyrinthine comic novel as embodied in the life of one man. Praise for The Engineer of Human Souls : 'Magnificent! A magnum opus in all respects.' ' Milan Kundera 'Skvorecky writes with eloquence and wit'¦.' ' The New Yorker 'A marvelous exploration of the human condition.' ' Booklist 'Josef Skvorecky is unquestionably an important writer, blending a great humorous talent with a restless, sustained, probing moral inquisitiveness'¦. The Engineer of Human Souls will certainly introduce the reader to the distinctive Skvorecky world.' ' Times Literary Supplement