Prose  |  English sample translation available

The first fruit by Petra Soukupová goes well beyond the bounds of contemporary Czech literature. At the centre of the narrative are the life stories of a number of characters: people like you and me who are formally interconnected within the family but are very distant from one another in human terms. Their stories cross fully and authentically but once: on a more or less accidental holiday trip to the seaside.

By its form and motif this work of prose is reminiscent of Virginia Woolf and her classic novel To the Lighthouse. But this is no exercise in imitation: in the authorial utterance we can find (considering her age) a surprisingly intimate understanding of the breakdown of interpersonal relations and the impossibility of having rewarding communication, even within the immediate family.

(Pavel Janoušek)