Unopened letters

I wasn't a saint either, you know… “Are you really interested in my life? But it wasn't interesting at all, the things that happened to me were the same things that happened to everyone else around here,” says Alena, surprised that anyone wants to hear her memories. But the needlessly modest protagonist of Unopened Letters, inspired by a real-life witness whose name author Alice Horáčková has never revealed, lived through much more than most of her peers – and she can tell her story in a captivating way. Despite her downplaying it, the heroine's life alongside a prominent but impractical painter persecuted by the regime was no walk in the park. Yet, not even the communist totalitarian regime could tame this energetic, outspoken woman. What will she do when, after her husband's death, she finds a bundle of unopened letters written in a woman's hand in his desk? In this “documentary novel” from the author of the bestseller The House Divided, the post-war decades in Czechoslovakia come to life with remarkable linguistic and historical authenticity, and with them, an extraordinary yet true human story. “I was captivated by the many thoughts and commentaries from the author in the story, which hide a deep life wisdom. The strength of the main character, Alena, is reflected precisely in the fact that she didn't fall apart from it all. For me, she is a true heroine.” – Pavla Tomicová, actress “Anyone who didn't experience socialist Czechoslovakia will have a clear picture after reading this. But that's just one side of the book, albeit a brilliant one. Another is the language, the inner feelings of an older woman looking back on her life. A difficult life with an artist. Definitely a full five stars.” – from reader reviews on Databazeknih.cz “It’s remarkable how the author, who, given her age, didn't really experience that era, manages to capture its atmosphere.” – iDnes.cz “Horáčková has managed to brilliantly capitalise on her obsession with human destinies as a writer – by choosing an appropriate narrative style, she has created a very vivid and dynamic character, a living person.” – iLiteratura.cz “These distinctive memoirs are not the expected testimony about life under totalitarianism. Alena is unconventional not only in her vitality but also in another strong quality that she would probably not admit to herself: humility. An incredible determination and strength to accept the difficult and unwanted things that life threw in her way.” – Aktuálně.cz Well, you know how life is, how it often goes. Some people are workhorses, and some are show ponies. My husband belonged to the latter. And to be honest, I was a show pony too. Absent-minded, impractical, my lovers took care of me: Alenka here, Alenka there. And then I met Jaroušek and I had to man up. (...) And that's when my hard life began. Well, hard. I think we all have our own cross to bear, and even if someone carried that cross up a mountain for us, we'd still crawl back for our own, even on all fours if we had to. We certainly wouldn't choose a different one. – excerpt from the book