Anna Strnadová
Anna Strnadová studied Czech and French language at Palacký University in Olomouc. She dedicated her entire life to teaching at elementary schools and high schools. She began writing literature only after retiring. She debuted with a collection of short stories, Prohry, and a novella, V oknech červené muškáty. Her novel Maxl žhář was awarded the Literary Prize from Reflex magazine. The publishing house Argo has released her novels … stačilo jen říct Jáchymov and Volyňská rapsodie.
Life on a Spider’s Thread
June 2024, 312 pages
Available material: English synopsis, English sample
A life trauma revealing the monstrosity of Nazism and Communism
This historical novel delves into the pivotal moments in the lives of several families, bound by fate, spanning from the rise of Nazism to the deep normalization in Czechoslovakia. Evička Tomschitschová, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Czech-German father, spends her childhood in a convent and an orphanage after her mother’s “voluntary” departure. Sára Lebensternová survives a concentration camp and a death march, and she is still waiting for the return of her lost daughter. Meanwhile, the family of Franz Schwarz, also known as František Švarc, unscrupulously exploits each regime to attain privileges and power. Two totalitarian regimes are depicted here in all their treachery, awakening and provoking the worst aspects of human nature.
“So far, any novel by Czech author Anna Strnadová has taken my breath away. The novel portrays the fates of several families interconnected by historical events, focusing especially on the period from the rise of Nazism to the depths of normalization in Czechoslovakia.”
– Lacultura
