Bastard – Hlubuček Petr (2024)

The plot of this unusually conceived novel is set in the turbulent times at the end of the 18th century, when the echoes of the French Revolution were causing the old world to crumble and from its ashes a new world arose, full of enticing hopes and desires, but also confusion, chaos, and unfulfilled expectations. While blood flowed in revolutionary France and the heads of hated nobles fell, a grand coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia took place in Prague during those tumultuous times. It is amidst the whirlwind of the coronation celebrations that the reader meets the main heroine of the novel, the beautiful and witty patrician girl Katty Hofer, who guides them through the restless era, as well as through her life, seemingly peaceful and prosperous, yet internally unbridled and emotionally torn. Her restless nature drives her to weave intricate intrigues, thrusts her into the whirl of grand balls, masquerade parties, and sparkling opera performances, allows her to play according to her whims with older men of various social standings, but above all, it unwaveringly introduces her to the boundless world of the human spirit, to the world of science, art, and philosophy, especially to the mysteries of her beloved mathematics, in which she intends to achieve fame and recognition, for she yearns with all her soul for her...