These letters document Martinu's life in his own words, from his student days in Prague and Paris to his triumphs in American exile.

The 121 letters collected in this book document Martinu's life in his own words, beginning as a student in Prague and Paris, following his flight from Nazi-occupied France and charting his triumphs in American exile; the last letter is dated shortly before his death in 1959. They are addressed to his family and friends back home in the village of Policka, on the Czech-Moravian border. Kept at a distance by the Nazi occupation and then by Communism, Martinuwas never to return there but, in a letter to the mayor, written as a gesture of solidarity after August 1938, he proudly described himself as a "native son who is far from his home but who constantly returns - if only in his thoughts - with gladness - to that dear land - the most beautiful on earth."