A coming-of-age story about street fighting, parrot meat, and growing up in a small town.

Literary fiction  |  English sample translation available

Over four chapters in the debut novella Lover/Fighter we travel with the narrator through the years 2014, 2019, 2023, and 2031. We move from the nostalgic past of a small town to a dystopian future in Prague, with street brawling lying at the heart of this pacy and entertaining story. The protagonist uses insight and a distinctive lightness to describe the fights she has been involved in, as well as those she has heard about. Both the minor and major brawls are connected by several storylines, which are related to the small town where the narrator grew up, or a girl named Kendra – the love of her life.

In her first work of prose, Kristina Hamplová proves to be a lively storyteller with a talent for observation, who is not afraid to include references to popular culture or various quirky motifs in her book. The author brings to life the experiences of a girl born in the second half of the 1990s, and reveals how her generation lives and what its concerns are.

Kristina Hamplová (1997) is from a small town near Prague. She teaches at a secondary school, writes about music for various media outlets, and hosts the pop-culture podcast Hitparáda Eso. Her debut novel Lover/Fighter was chosen for the eleventh Susanna Roth Award for beginner translators of Czech literature.