Czech Republic 🇨🇿
Lucie Faulerová (1989) is a writer, editor and screen writer. She graduated in Czech Studies at the Palacký University in Olomouc.
Her debut novel “Lapači prachu” has already attracted the attention of readers and critics. It was nominated for the 2017 Magnesia Litera Award for prose (the highest annual book award held in the Czech Republic), and the Jiří Orten Award for young authors under the age of 30.
With the prominent Czech conceptual artist Kateřina Šedá, Lucie co-authored the book “BRNOX—A guide to Brno’s Bronx” (2016), about a socially disadvantaged area of Brno, which won the 2016 Magnesia Litera Award for journalism.
In 2020, Lucie published her novel “Smrtholka”, the book was nominated for the 2021 Magnesia Litera Award for prose and won the European Union Prize for Literature.
Smrtholka (Deathmaiden)
Translation: Margareta Karajanova
While returning home by train, Maria, the main character and narrator in the novel, is flooded with images from her dysfunctional family's past, youthful joys and sorrows, vices, loves... It starts with her almost idyllic childhood, but quickly delves into the dark events from the recent past, all the while pondering the meaning and necessity of existence in the present. The burden of memories seems overwhelming, and she anticipates the end. With the train, Maria will reach her ultimate destination.
"Deathmaiden" can be read as a family novel, a novel-study on suicides, a psychological-contemplative novel, a novel about a girl who, despite the harsh reality, wants to live.
Although suicide might seem like the central theme in the novel, the author has stated that the main theme is freedom. Freedom in the sense of an individual making their own choice - whether to live or not.