In her latest novel, one of the most successful young Czech authors asks how can we know what is best for others when we ourselves do not know how to be happy?

Literary fiction

Ten-year-old Viktor is a spoiled troublemaker who lives with his mother, thirty-year-old theatre actress Hana. One day, Hana receives an offer to act in a TV series filmed on the other side of the country. She sees this as an opportunity to send her son to stay with her mother, who lives in the countryside and has her own strict ideas about how to educate the boy. For each of the characters, Viktor’s move is intended to ‘solve’ the root of their current troubles: what can you do with the remainder of your life when you are ten, thirty or sixty? WHAT really is best for everybody? In telling the story, the three characters alternate as first-person narrators, gradually introducing the reader to each of their perspectives, opinions, personalities and relationships. Who is really trying to help and who has betrayed the others? Petra Soukupová is a master of portraying family relationships and the loneliness inside of them. She has an exceptional understanding of, both, child characters, as well as those who are nearing the end of their lives.

Best for Everybody shares certain plot points with Soukupová’s latest book for children, Kdo zabil Snížka (Who Killed Snowy?). The two books complement each other, creating a unique reading experience for parents and children.