Martin Sodoma
Martin Sodoma was born in 1979 and lives in Prague. He is a university teacher and writer of popular science articles, animated poetry and media texts. His life experience was highly influenced by his membership in Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially by his service in the religious society’s Prague headquarters and later its congregations in the Cheb region, as well as his subsequent break with this faith. What prompted him to write Jehovah’s Witness, his first novel, was the tragic fate of a close friend. Today, Martin Sodoma believes in science, intuition and the magical forces of nature. He is happily married and has three children. And interestingly he’s as fictional as the characters in his novel—Martin Sodoma – two authors joined together by friendship and a similar life path.
Jehovah’s Witness
March 2024, 416 pages
A human, civil story about leaving a religious community, one that offers surprising insider information, an authentic perspective and, above all, one that entertains… but doesn’t demonize.
Ota, the 20-year-old son of one of the leading Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bohemia, travels to Aš to strengthen the faith of the believers in the local congregation. Initially, he successfully navigates the congregation’s peculiar environment, persuades non-believers, and wanders the borderland wilderness. The problem is, he is increasingly more haunted by years’ worth of repressed doubts and remorse stemming from once rejecting his best friend, who was excommunicated from the organization, and finds himself on the edge of darkness… A time-lapse novel drawing on real experiences set in the noughties.