Hvězdní pavouci - Román o zrazené generaci – Dvořák Otomar (2021)

The book received the Miroslav Ivanov Award in the Historical Novel category for 2021. A partially autobiographical story that captures the 1950s and 1960s. An obsession with the depths of the cosmos marks both father and son, and life in an old villa with a wild park and a mysterious pond near a nationalized factory oscillates between drama and absurd grotesque. The father's dream of building an observatory with a replica of the world's largest telescope occasionally comes close to fulfillment, only to be thwarted by unexpected twists of fate. His son Tomáš experiences his adventures, his first sorrows, and his first dizzying, albeit unrequited loves. The Garden of Eden, the mysterious copper snake on an island in the pond, a ghostly spider that ensnares not only stars but also human destinies, the drug-induced dreams of flower children, and the harsh sobering up after the Russian occupation in August 1968, the first beeping "orange with antennas" in space, and the first trace of a human foot on the Moon – these are the milestones in the colorful fates of several heroes. The novel offers a view of a piece of Czech history from an unexpected and unique angle.