How a young man from Czechoslovakia became the genius behind the celebrated designs of Waterford Crystal (including his signature Lismore pattern).
Miroslav Havel came to Waterford from his home in Czechoslovakia at the age of 25, intending to stay only three months. He had been trained in glass-making at the prestigious Academy of Art and Industrial Design in Prague. Teaming up with an unconventional Czech businessman, Charles Bacik, Havel kept extending his stay in Ireland while the two men revived a crystal glass tradition that crippling British excise taxes had ended almost exactly a century before.

The book traces Havel's early years growing up in Czechoslovakia, his father's bizarre business dealings and tempestuous lifestyle, his formation as a glass designer, his experiences during the Nazi occupation of his country, his mentor Bacik's sudden flight to Ireland, and Havel's strange adventures as a naive Czechoslovak joining Bacik in a distant country he mistakenly associated with tropical fruits and sunshine. The book explores how, after Bacik sold his interest to a group of Irish entrepreneurs, Havel remained in Ireland to guide the rise of Waterford Crystal by adapting antique Waterford designs to modern production processes. It explains how his creative genius inspired him not only to design and install the magnificent chandeliers that now adorn Westminster Abbey and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, but to develop the beautiful suites of cut crystal glasses that created a trusted brand identity for millions of consumers throughout the world.