Sklíněné korálky – Sýkora Petr (2020)

The historical novel by Petr Sýkora, Sklíněné korálky, takes readers to the castle in Velké Losiny and its surroundings, to northern Moravia at the end of the 17th century, to the places infamous for witch trials. The love story of Princess Anna Vilemína and the landowner's only son Michal, two young people from different social classes, unfolds against the backdrop of the inquisitorial frenzy of Judge Boblig and his henchmen, in times so close yet so distant from medieval obscurantism. Thanks to Sýkora's sense for cinematic or serial storytelling, the novel can also be read as a sequel to the book and film adaptation of Kladivo na čarodějnice, as if the author wanted to emphasize timeless themes that made Václav Kaplický's novel (1963) and Otakar Vávra's film (1969) quite popular: the struggle of the individual against the tyranny of the times and mob manipulation, the conflict of truth and lies, the clash of bigoted Christianity with secularism. Sýkora's almost cinematic editing, punchy humorous scenes, or language drawing from period and regional peculiarities, along with genre play and the relativization of myths and historical facts, all together create a colorful cocktail of episodes.