Kulda čeká na tank – Babík Milan (2026)

In the gloomy late-normalisation period, the gate of a family home in a northern Moravian town represents a symbolic way out of prison, since the property is surrounded on three sides by the walls of Soviet occupation barracks. For young Matyáš Kulich, known as Kulda, who loves playing soldiers, it is also a favourite daily observation post where he learns how the world works. Guided by his brave grandfather, a Sudeten veteran of the Second World War, he watches the occupying troops’ manoeuvres and behaviour, records the movements of their equipment, infiltrates them as a spy and finds small ways to harm the enemy, even though most of his fellow citizens appear outwardly resigned to the situation. This is only half the story, however. In a parallel storyline set nearly four decades later, Milan Babík follows a team of Czech combat medics in Ukraine as they treat the seriously wounded on the Donbas front and try to bring the team’s fallen founder home. When the fates of the main characters in both parts of the narrative intersect, youth merges with old age, life with death, play with reality, humour with absurd tragedy, and moments of fateful insight with moments of pure suffering. Drawing on a lifelong study of international relations, the novel reflects on what freedom means and what we may once again have to sacrifice for it if we are to remain ourselves after years of prosperity and relative global calm.