Fantasy  |  English sample translation available

Petra Stehlíková first self-published her books and has now been picked up by one of the largest publishing houses in the Czech Republic. From the outset her books have been successful among fantasy genre readers and young adults. After the Great War the world is divided into two parts, one is habitable and the other is contaminated by poisonous gases. The habitable half is protected by a shield that draws energy from a special mineral called glassite, but its excavation results in numerous disorders and deformities. Thirteen-year-old Ilan is one of the few to be born without any deformities. Since her childhood she has pretended to be a boy, so as not to be taken away from her family, and she hides under a habit with a mask that glass workers have to wear as a sign of subordination. Thanks to her ability to listen to glassite, she begins to learn glass polishing. She knows she has to hide her secret at any price from the twenty-five warrior foes who have enslaved her people, but she does not manage to hold her ground and slowly comes closer to these men and learns the truth that has been withheld from the glass workers for many years. The Listener is the first part of a planned series.

Praise

“…the author has created a fascinating story. The Listener is the bold equal of any foreign work.”

— Petra Machová, Dagon