In this tense novel, a woman who doesn’t know her place in life goes in search of the person who poisoned an eagle.

Literary fiction

Veronika Bálková’s debut novel is almost like a detective story. The narrator, thirty-three-year-old Kateřina, lives with her grandmother in a village and one day comes across a poisoned eagle while walking her dog. As she has nothing else to do except take her dog for walks, she decides to investigate, and the relationships within the village gradually begin to unravel. In the process she has to contend with her own difficult relationships – with her mother, with a divorcee vet, and with her grandmother. Gradually, we uncover the background of this seemingly rootless woman. We discover why she wanders around with her dog all day long, why she doesn’t have to work, the experiences she went through in the past, and how these have left their mark on her. The sensitive approach to the transitional phase in life, which the protagonist has found herself in, is the book’s greatest strength. In addition, it is communicated to the reader in an engaging, attractive, and exciting way. All of this makes Bálková’s first book a compelling and thought-provoking novel, which is hard to put down.

Veronika Bálková studied law and lives in České Budějovice. Her first novel, Přechodné období (A Transitional Phase, 2024), is also set in southern Bohemia.