THE LAST GODDESS

Once upon a time, a group of women with extraordinary abilities lived high in the hills of the White Carpathians. They knew how to heal people and help them in misery, they knew how to cope with trouble, and they could see the future. The so-called Žítková goddesses passed down their abilities from generation to generation. Dora Idesová is the last member of their family. She did not learn their art, but studied ethnography and decided to write an extensive scientific study about them. In the late 1990s, she discovered an operative file on the “internal enemy of the state” – her aunt, goddess Surmena. The file was created by the StB (the State Security), and kept in the archives of the Ministry of the Interior. Dora discovers the fate of the women from the village of Žítková and she is surprised to find out that although she did not become a goddess herself, she is an integral part of the secret traditions, too.

REVIEWS

“Kateřina Tučková is a remarkable author. She has proved (…) that she is able to find an interesting and controversial topic that makes the reader to take a stand and wake up from indifference.”
Jiří Lojín /  www.cbdb.cz

“In The Zitkova Goddesses, Kateřina Tučková (…) showed her narrative skills, and we can only take off our hats to her skills. Not only did she choose an original topic, but she managed to combine fiction and reality in a clever, thrilling and believable way, to build rich characters, and to lead the complex saga with many diversions to its end.”
Jana Machalická / Lidové noviny

“The story composition is very artfully constructed and it contains several stylistic levels that gradually intertwine into a big picture. (…) I cannot remember the last time I read a story with such a strong motive in Czech literature. The author has managed to transform the extensive historical and folklore material into a remarkable novel.”
Pavel Kotrla / Týdeník Rozhlas