You sing as if you were crying

How many people can one person love? asks the heroine, Andrea, who is torn between two men.

Zuzana Kultánová, author of the award-winning historical novel Augustin Zimmermann, has this time written a story about a young woman of today who came of age in the 1990s. First a poor student, then a desirable mistress, and finally a doubting wife and mother, she longs for an “ordinary life” but is unable to build one for herself. She has low self-esteem and feels she doesn’t even deserve it. Andrea is in constant dialogue with her loved ones, with a world wracked by crises, and with herself. She is both critical and self-critical. With brutal honesty, she confesses her transgressions and failures and describes the humiliating life of her father, a gastarbeiter and gambler. She is also unafraid to reveal the dark side of motherhood.

Zuzana Kultánová
(b. 1986) studied Czech language and literature at the University of Ostrava, after which she was editor-in-chief of Opičí revue magazine. For her debut book, Augustin Zimmermann, she was nominated for a Magnesia Litera award for discovery of the year and won the 2017 Jiří Orten Award. She works as a teacher and book editor. She lives in Prague.