In 1927, as Natalia Faber travels from Berlin to Prague with her mother, their train is delayed in Saxon Switzerland. In the brief time the train is idle, Natalia learns the truth about her father—who she believed died during her infancy—and meets a remarkable woman named Dr. Magdalena Schaeffer, whose family will become a significant part of her future. Shaken by these events, Natalia arrives at a spa on the shore of Lake Hevíz in Hungary. Here, she meets Count Miklós Andorján, a journalist and adventurer. The following year, they will marry.

Years later, Germany has invaded Russia. When Miklós fails to return from the eastern front, Natalia goes to Prague to wait for him. With a pack of tarot cards, she sets up shop as a fortune teller, and she meets Anna Schaeffer, the daughter of the woman she met decades earlier on that stalled train. The Nazis accuse Natalia of spying, and she is sent to a concentration camp. Though they are separated, her friendship with Anna grows as they fight to survive and to be reunited with their families.

Praise for Midnight Train to Prague:

Shortlisted for a Vine Award for Jewish Canadian literature

“An original and compelling story, told with vivid detail and a richness in setting that I absorbed in one sitting. Windley’s characters are symbols of a disappearing era, as they navigate the dramatically shifting political landscape of central Europe teetering between wars.”—Ellen Keith, bestselling author of The Dutch Wife

“While there is certainly a place for wartime fiction that focuses on romance or intrepid female spies, novels like Windley’s offer a deeper, more thought-provoking examination of a time that is on the cusp of slipping from modern memory. As the number of people who lived through the atrocities dwindles, well-written books like Midnight Train to Prague are a reminder to the rest of us that we must never forget.”—Quill & Quire