It is a novel about finding the essence of human evil, in which the world of Slavonic myths and the reality of Latin America is mixed in, a world of dreams, people and animals. The complex composed story is told by two narrators. The first one an animal, the snake Haré, as a symbol of Slavonic myths about living and dead water.

The venom of a snake can bring forth life in the form of new biomedical test – biomedicine makes abundant use of snake venom in manufacturing strong analgesics and cures for cancer -, but can also bring death when bitten by a snake. Snakes play a different role in different cultures: in Latin American myths the snake symbolizes wisdom that can help humans to understand evil, which is in the book named “the cold layer of the world”.

In the snake Haré is however also reflected the Slavonic myths about snakes, in which man thanks to snakes, can understand the language of the animals. The second narrator is the mysterious Tattooist, a man who like Scheherazade tells stories to his customers, the narco bosses who are impatience during the tattooing and to whom he has to tell stories so he won’t be killed.

The novel was shortlisted for the Magnesia Litera Award 2010.

“Markéta Pilátová, whose first novel Yellow Eyes Will Lead You Home met with a great response from literary critics, undoubtedly cultivates a strong, sometimes surprising language and a skillful feel for details that a skillful eye for detail that guarantees entertaining reading. ”

— Literatur/Wien/Kritik

“All layers and motives, characters and stories refer to one junction: that of a big city that has spread out over the whole world and has touched everyone’s life. ”

— Lidové noviny

“My Most Beloved Book does not idealize the world, neither condemns it. With a snake-like refinement, and powerful at the same time, it penetrates both into the public world as in the personal life of individuals, into their past and contemporary corners of their life. This is done in such a way that on many occasions it leaves the reader breathless.”

— iLiteratura

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