Amongst many side stories this novel is about Josef and Květa, about their trials and tribulations during the second half of the Twentieth Century. They share the interest for the culture of the Hittites and Josef gains a passion for deciphering the ancient language. Josef gets for political reasons imprisoned in the fifties and Květa starts an affair with Josef’s former friend who betrayed him. After Josef’s return from prison the tensions between him Květa are increasing and they grow apart from each other, despite of having a daughter Alice. Later on Josef’s death a letter written by him in cuneiform script is found.

This first novel by Tomáš Zmeškal is constructed like a kaleidoscope of various stories, with their own narrative line and own characters. All characters are however in some way linked to each other and as a whole the construction of the book resembles films like Magnolia or Pulp Fiction, in which different characters cross the path of others, and when the story is cut up in different scenes and jumps to and fro in time.

“One of the new grand European Novels.”

— NRC Handelsblad

“A formidable and moving novel.”

— De Standaard

“Ladies and gentlemen, with Zmeškal a new extraordinary, personal and outspoken storyteller has made his apperarance on the Czech scene. Of a quality we haven’t experienced since Josef Škvorecký, Bohumil Hrabal or Jáchym Topol.”

— Lidové noviny

“His book reminds the work of Salman Rushdie.”

— Het Financiële Dagblad

Translations