I was looking forward to reading how she, a prolific writer of both fiction and essays, chronicled that early shock and upheaval. Written just after the pandemic hit in 2020, Intimations is Zadie Smith’s slim volume of reflections. Crossing Charles Bridge became part of my regular walk, and it was a strange privilege to experience not only the bridge, but also the city, in a completely different way, encountering perhaps a world that would never quite be the same again. In lockdown, not only were the streets empty of tourists, but I also got to walk over this iconic bridge mostly alone something unimaginable before pandemic times unless it was at 3am. Crossing the bridge in pre-pandemic times, especially during the summer, usually meant jostling shoulder to shoulder with tourists from everywhere. A stone mediaeval bridge with Baroque statues of various saints adorning both sides, it connects Prague Castle with the rest of the city and is probably one of the most famous landmarks in the Czech Republic, beside the castle itself.

What I remember of that haze of a year, besides her death and my return trip to Prague, was the emptiness of Charles Bridge on my daily walks. I left Sydney in mid-2020 to return to Prague as the first round of the pandemic was in full swing. It also was a defining year for me because my mother passed away shortly after her diagnosis, just as lockdowns and restrictions were happening. Then in 2020 it – COVID – happened, something that we will probably always remember as the year of ‘before’ and ‘after’. Just before we knew there was a virus waiting in the wings, in late 2019 my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I went back to Sydney from Prague where I had been living.

Intimations smith