Lada u ledu – Labudová Ema (2021)

Ema Labudová drew attention with her debut Tapetář, for which she was nominated for the Magnesia Litera in the Discovery of the Year category. She moved her new story from England to Czechoslovakia, from the 1950s to the late 1970s. The theme is no longer the relationship between two young men, but an eating disorder.
Seventeen-year-old Lada suffers from anorexia. It takes some time for her parents to notice that she has lost a significant amount of weight – or rather that she is skin and bones. They begin with home treatment, and Lada even ends up in the hospital for a time, constantly battling her self-loathing. This situation affects the normal functioning of the family, and the parents' desperate desire to cure her, even though she herself does not feel sick, awakens a deep hatred within her. Gradually, she begins to recover, but she suffers from psychological issues. We follow the development of her first relationship, which grows into a marriage, and observe her transformation from a child into an adult woman who remains unhappy in her own body.