Has anyone read the book?

The movie has some deviations from the book. In the book Richard is married, and is able to emigrate because his wife is Austrian. At the end, Hana/Eliska comes to see him as a polished self-serving skirt-chaser, and decides not to marry him.

Hana and Joza know they will have to marry from the beginning of their journey to Zelary. She reluctantly (and unnecessarily) proposes to him on the train, and then even more reluctantly seduces him on their wedding night. There are no outward temper tantrums on her part. He saved her life, and she will "not deny him his soldier's pay." For the voyeurs in you, the seduction scene in the movie is reasonably faithful to the book.

Many of the suspense scenes, on the other hand, were invented strictly for the film. The book has no lynching Germans, no rapists, no baby stalkers. The only serious fighting occurs at the end, and is handled in one brief chapter. And Joza, thankfully, dies in the arms of his wife.

The focus of the book is on the characters, their love, their friendships, and their way of life. I found the book descriptive, touching, and poetic. It isn't available in English yet, although I find it never hurts to lean on major booksellers.