Searching for Freedom in Prague: A Woman Learns to Exist
In the second movement of From Error to Error, Monika Killeen’s narrator leaves behind the oppressive weight of her childhood to step into the chaotic freedom of 1990s Prague. Here, the young woman, M, begins to define herself — not by fear, but by choice. What unfolds is an exquisite meditation on liberation, youth, and the illusions that come with both.
Through lyrical, first-person narration, Killeen captures a post-Communist Europe brimming with possibility and contradiction. M wanders through cobbled streets, smoky cafés, and late-night philosophical arguments that blur into desire. Love, in Killeen’s world, is never pure; it’s transactional, intoxicating, and fragile — a mirror reflecting the ache of becoming. Her affair with Leith, a journalist whose presence is as magnetic as it is doomed, reveals how intimacy can both heal and destroy.
Killeen’s Prague is not just a place, but a state of mind — a liminal space where history, language, and identity collide. As M stumbles through friendship, betrayal, and the quiet violence of an unwanted pregnancy, Killeen’s prose hovers between brutality and grace. Each error becomes a form of education, each loss a lesson in being.
In this section, the novel blooms into its philosophical heart: to live is to err, and to err is to live. Killeen transforms the chaos of youth into art — a profound reflection on how freedom can be as binding as the past we’re running from.
About the Author:
Monika Killeen is a writer and psychotherapist whose work explores themes of trauma, healing, cultural identity, and the female experience. With roots in Central Europe and a life spanning several countries, Killeen brings a unique perspective to her writing.
Book Name: From Error To Error
Author Name: Monika Killeen
ISBN Number: 196896679X
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