Shards in the milk

In this novel, the author unravels a love quadrangle set in Paris and the Czech countryside at the dawn of the new millennium. The protagonist of the story lives with his wife and daughter in the French capital, where he has secured a lucrative position as secretary to the director of a multinational corporation. He is marked by his adolescence during the Normalisation period and a strict upbringing by his father, which manifests in his adulthood as a chronic lack of self-confidence.

 The novel is given an original perspective by the fact that the story is narrated through the protagonist's mouth by his wife, who has the gift of seeing into her husband's most intimate thoughts. She evaluates him without embellishment, sometimes with sarcasm, through which affection and perhaps even understanding occasionally shine. She guides us through his admiration for the French metropolis, his literary attempts, and his infatuation with the charming Parisian, Maud, who is the embodiment of a champagne socialist activist.

 And while the protagonist enjoys his dream Paris, his wife never misses an opportunity to flee to the Czech Republic. The character of her lover, who irritates those around him with his spontaneity to the point of insolence, is inspired by the legendary Central European prankster, Till Eulenspiegel.

 In his book, Pavel Hrnčíř describes the trials of a dysfunctional marriage with a subtle, ironic humour, while at the same time, against the backdrop of love affairs, he acquaints us with Parisian galleries, restaurants and cafés, with the streets of Prague and the picturesque nature of western Bohemia. Both the fictional and real places mentioned in the novel are associated with stories and historical events that could have actually happened, but cannot always be entirely believed.

Pavel Hrnčíř studied librarianship at Charles University in Prague, focusing on the semantics of literary works, then worked at the National Library and the Museum of Czech Literature. Since 1994, he has been employed in the diplomatic service. He has worked in France, Switzerland and Canada, and currently lives in Prague.

 After several books for children, including the award-winning Plechová Mína (Tin Mina), he wrote a novel for adult readers, inspired by his several-year stay in Paris. In it, he deals with, among other things, the cultural differences between Western and Eastern Europe.