Two interrelated stories, the first based on a true event. The year is 1694: Šimon Abeles reportedly wants to convert to Christianity. Not long after that, he tragically dies and his father is accused of the murder.

Crime/Detective, Historical fiction, Literary fiction

Šimon, thanks to the trial, becomes a martyr. The present day: an anthropologist, Ladislav Albrecht, responsible for the research of Abeles’s grave, is looking for his lost son, Šimon, who has become addicted to a computer game built on Christian-Jewish hostility. A difference of several centuries but the same distorted rights, abuse and manipulation of public opinion, as well as concealed and open intolerance. An important part of this historical detective novel is Prague, with its mysterious atmosphere. Marek Toman (1967) is a poet and writer of fiction, translator, journalist and editor; he is a diplomat by profession.

More information in Polish on the publisher’s website.

Praise

“Undoubtedly, this work is of fine literary and historiographical quality.”

— Jiři Peňás, editor of the Lidové Noviny newspaper cultural section

Information about the original Czech edition

Veliká novina o hrozném mordu Šimona Abelese

Other selected published translations (1)

Die große Neuigkeit vom schrecklichen Mord an Šimon Abeles German