[ book tip by ] Pavol Rankov is one of the most successful contemporary Slovak prose writers. He has published three books of psychological tales with magical plots and surprise endings, of which several have attracted the attention of overseas publishers.

His first novel Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy) (It Happened on September the First [or whenever]) is a precisely structured statement about Central Europe in the period from 1938 to 1968. Rankov's story is formed around the love of three classmates (a Hungarian, a Czech, and a Jew) from the multi-ethnic Central European town of Levice, who are in love with one Slovak woman lifelong.

However, the vortex of historical and political events (Munich, the Vienna Arbitration, Second World War, German occupation, the Holocaust, liberation by the Soviet Army, forced resettlement of inhabitants, communist takeover, political trials in the period of the Stalin cult, Soviet occupation of Hungary, Dubček socialism, occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops) changes the romantic characters of this unusual story into refugees from their own country, lost in the great world's occurrences, and their love is changed to a trauma of unfulfilled destiny.

Despite the irony which relieves the dramatic fatality of the entire theme, in Rankov's novel it is precisely love which is the only way of preserving human integrity and dignity.

[ book info ] Rankov, Pavol: Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy). (It Happened on September the First [or whenever]). (original language: Slovak) Kalligram, Bratislava, 2008 . ISBN: 978-80-8101-069 -9.