Peter Sherwood Book order (chronological)

A controversial, raw, and stark yet poetic text mapping a six-year period of an unequal relationship between twelve-year-old Tereza and fifty-year-old Ivan, an art class instructor. Tereza is unaware that she is trapped in an illegal relationship with a manipulator; with Ivan, she finally feels beautiful and admired. As she matures, she begins to reassess the situation, striving to escape the toxic cycle and gradually detaching from Ivan. But is it possible? The short, impactful chapters shock with their openness, resonating long after the reading is done.

It's 1954 and nine-year-old Mira's life is about to change forever. After a typhoid outbreak rages through her town, robbing her of her parents and siblings, the orphaned child is forced to live with her mysterious, depressive Aunt Hana, a figure both frightening and fragile. Gradually, Mira uncovers the secrets of their troubled family history and begins to understand why her aunt is so incapable of trusting herself and the world around her. Deftly weaving two separate timelines, the harrowing reasons behind Hana's reclusive way of life, the guilt she wears as palpably as a cloak, and the tattoo on her wrist, are revealed to Mira. Alena Mornstajnová's gripping novel, which is based on real events, has won numerous awards and been translated into over a dozen languages across the world.

Peter Kristufek's sweeping family saga, covering Slovakia's history from 1938 to the early 2000s, explores the way the pressure of history makes a decent but weak man harm the people around him, skilfully weaving into the narrative extracts from authentic period documents ranging from advertisements to poetry and diaries.