Childless

by Ignát Herrmann, Marie Busch (Translator), Otto Pick (Translator)

A classic of Czech literature available in paperback for the first time. 'Beautiful. Wise. Utterly humane. Uplifting in the best sense.' TIM MURGATROYD, author of Taming Poison Dragons When Ivan Hron is expelled from university because of his political beliefs he is kicked out of the family home and disinherited by his father. He finds a job in Prague as a bank clerk, works hard and impresses his employers. Some years later, he is appointed manager. Now a man of considerable means he is keen to get married and start a family. One summer holiday he meets Magdalena, a young woman from the country who is at the resort with her parents, and falls in love. But his proposal of marriage is refused. Six months pass and Ivan hears that Magda's father has fallen upon hard times. He gets back in touch, repeats his proposal and this time is accepted. And although their union is seemingly a happy one, it remains childless, much to Ivan's distress. One day, Ivan discovers a letter his wife has hidden from him. The contents shatter his illusions of their happy marriage and reveal secrets that challenge everything he has hoped for in life. But his reaction will surprise those around him and, quite possibly, the reader too. Childless is a short novella by a revered Czech writer whose work is little-known in English. Its forward-thinking philosophy, way ahead of its time, makes it a story that deserves a modern readership Part of the Very Short Classics series, a collection of short books from around the world and across the centuries, many of which are being made available for the first time in decades. Please note that this is a print-on-demand edition of a short novella, so the finished book won't be quite the same as many of the others on your shelves – it won't have a title or author name on the spine, for example – but we wanted to make this story available in print as well as ebook and this is currently the best way to do so.

58 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2020

Reviews

[rachy · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Childless’ is a pleasant little novella and a classic of Czech literature. Considering the novella itself is less than 50 pages, I won’t spend too long on this review as there simply isn’t that much to cover! The novella focuses largely on Ivan Hron and his wife, who despite 10 years of a good marriage are as yet to have a child. As a successful business man, this gap seems to be the only thing really missing from his life. After his wife leaves to visit her family in the country as she does every year, Ivan discovers a deeper mystery within their marriage and his reaction constitutes the novel’s climax. The positivity of this, for the time, was clearly groundbreaking and as such it’s really lovely to read something from this sort of time where it doesn’t all end in tears. Overall I’d describe ‘Childless’ as a lovely little palate cleanser. If like me you’re between meatier novels, being able to take a brief pause to read something so short and nice is a great little diversion. If you have a half hour or so and you want a nice little tale to warm your heart, ‘Childless’ won’t steer you wrong.