Božena Němcová Books

The Czech people, like every nation on earth, have their own wealth of fairytales, passed down from generation to generation since time immemorial. Despite the familiarity of the basic themes, Czech fairytales retain their distinctive features, attracting young and old alike. Stories such as "The Princess with the Golden Star on her Forehead" or "Fire Bird and Red Fox" by Božena Němcová and Karel Jaromír Erben offer an insight into the lives of the ordinary people in Bohemia and Moravia, as well as their wishes and dreams, which is not only romantic, but also thrilling. Thus that most magical phrase, which reminds adults of their childhood and brings a twinkle to children's eyes, still casts a spell like no other: "Once upon a time..."

The Czech author Božena Němcová (1820-1862), born in Vienna, paints an entirely unsentimental portrait of the country habits and customs of Bohemia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and depicts the people she encountered during her childhood: teachers, maids, farm workers, millers, foresters, priests, to name but a few. The central character of this story, set in Eastern Bohemia, is a grandmother, full of simple wisdom, goodness and love, who personifies an ideal of maternal care. The Prošek family live in this country idyll but their father’s work means that he is compelled to spend a large part of the year in the imperial city of Vienna. Thus, their grandmother is brought home to look after the children and the property. This is the background against which the author unfolds the most important prose work in Czech literature and creates “one of the best female characters in world literature”.

Nejkrásnější a nejznámější pohádky K. J. Erbena a B. Němcové s ilustracemi Josefa Lady a v anglickém překladu. Ideální dárek pro zahraniční přátele, kteří si chtějí přečíst Zlatovlásku, Hrnečku, vař nebo třeba Perníkovou chaloupku.