Selsk baroko Hjek Ji (2009)

This Czech-language novel by Ji Hjek reflects on the collectivization of the countryside in the 1950s. The story begins one hot summer in the chteau park in Tebo, where genealogist Pavel Straansk receives an unusual commission. Usually preparing family trees for wealthy emigrants searching for their roots, Pavel is drawn into the recent history of the village of Tomaice and the story of the beautiful Rozlie Zandlov and its farmers. As he travels through the South Bohemian countryside, studying old chronicles and listening to eyewitnesses, he gradually reconstructs the denunciation that sent several farmers to prison in the 1950s. His almost detective-like investigation reaches into the present, but instead of clear answers raises further questions about guilt, revenge, forgiveness and the power of the past.