The Cruelty of Beauty — Wendy Holden

A beautiful glassmaker. Two damaged men who love her. Set in exotic Bohemia and the wilderness of an English coast, this is a story of obsession and passion and fear... When Ben meets glassmaker Katerina at a London art gallery he quickly falls under her spell. The exotic beauty reveals little of herself, however, even after he discovers that she is pregnant and moves into her remote coastal cottage to finish his novel. In an earlier, alternate narrative, Lukas - a former member of the Czech secret police – finds employment at the glassworks in rural Bohemia where Katerina and her father make beautiful objets d'art. Smitten, Lukas's obsession only deepens and his jealousy grows when she is drawn into a group intent on opposing the Communist regime. After a series of shocking events, Lukas is left bereft when Katerina defects. Fleeing to the wild beauty of North Norfolk, Katerina throws herself into her work and enjoys a deepening friendship with an unusual woman. Her pregnancy drains her, while Ben struggles with his writing - and his past. The two worlds fatally collide when - after the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia - the obsessive Lukas tracks Katerina down to the windswept English coast determined to get to her, before it's too late...Already published in the Czech Republic and soon a TV film, The Cruelty of Beauty takes the reader on a journey into glassmaking and its parallels with the fragilities and strengths of life.