The unnamed narrator returns to work after a debilitating illness, caused by a pandemic. He is struggling to regain his footing. As head of a corporate storytelling division, he crafts narratives for commercial purposes while secretly pursuing his lifelong dream: writing his debut novel. But time is scarce, and his personal life is unraveling. His…

As children, two brothers spent their summers together with two friends at their grandfather’s countryside estate. Years later, they reunite there as adults, following the grandfather’s death—someone must now be chosen to take over as caretaker of the garden. But this time, they are not alone. In the garden, on the compost heap, lives a…

Young Hana lives alone in a dilapidated villa on the riverbank. She is plagued by fears, takes antidepressants, and avoids people who, in turn, reject her. Only Jarda is different; he is hopelessly in love with the delicate, fairy-like woman who seems so strange and unreachable. Wanting to help her, he invites her former psychotherapist…

As the first frosts settle in late November, a woman’s body is discovered in the marshes on the town’s outskirts—a place steeped in eerie silence and the stench of decay. Her corpse, half-sunken into the soft earth and veiled in fallen leaves, with her long hair carefully combed, presents a macabre yet strangely beautiful sight.…

Set in a small country town, the novel carries an apocalyptic undertone from the very beginning. The heroine, Anna, narrates in a voice that is mysteriously inscrutable. We follow her daily life in intimate detail—from morning to night—yet she remains elusive. Her obsession draws her into a distorted inner world, where the scent and rustling…

Prague in the near future: the city has been destroyed by a war between AI and humans, that lasted only an hour. A new dictatorship has emerged; people are controlled, enslaved, punished for not going along with the regime. In addition, there is no electricity—human and animal power has to replace machines. Even the internet,…

Russian pressure on Central Europe is one of the themes of this novel. Its young protagonist—a Czech diplomat with his family on his first posting—experiences in Estonia how the Russian secret services try to recruit him for their purposes. The young diplomat undergoes all this first-hand, with his family. And he also faces his own…

Do you know which rabbit can fly? The one that is held in the talons of an eagle. And do you know who rescues socially disadvantaged people from despair, need and drug addiction? Who offers them a roof over their heads and everything they need in life? A modern slaveholder. The novel deals with one…

Although young Andrea, a wife and mother, leads a good life in Prague, she is restless and dissatisfied inside. The demons of the past won’t let go of her. Though she loves her husband and her little son dearly, another love binds her thoughts—to a man twenty years her senior whom she left years ago.…

Iva Pekárková knows how to focus on people on the fringes of society. She does it with humor, knowledge of human nature and a vivid, captivating storytelling. It is as if the patients and their carers are stepping out of the pages of the book, with their life stories, their families, their quirks, dreams, their…