The Last Baroness

It is shortly after the war and Spišské Strážky is ruled by a revolutionary national committee under the supervision of a Red Army major. She controls everything, except the local baroness, Margita Czóbel. The young communist Šlauko is given the task of guarding and stalking her as a "tenant" of the castle. The Baroness sees through the ruse, but leaves Šlauk sitting in his studio, where he paints a portrait of Lenin instead of landscapes, so that she too can join in the introduction of the new order. Šlauko listens to her memories, slowly succumbs to her charm and his own shame, and as a storyteller, he pieces together a picture of the fates of people known and unknown and the history of the once rich Spiš intertwined with the history of Europe. Margita Czóbelová (1891-1972) lived a life full of twists and turns. Wars, the collapse of empires, revolutions and totalitarian regimes took almost everything from her, but she did not let them take her pride and humour away. She also managed to protect family paintings, documents and the castle library. She bequeathed everything (including the work of her uncle, the painter Ladislav Mednyánszky) to the Slovak National Gallery. Based on the Baroness's diaries and other documents, Silvester Lavrík has painted a colourful portrait of a strange woman and a small piece of an equally strange country. < br> < br> The publication of the book was supported by the Literary Information Centre in Bratislava.