Babička pozdravuje a omlouvá se – Backman Fredrik (2015)

This Czech-language novel is a funny and suspenseful story filled with unexpected encounters, unlikely friendships, and the immense power of fairy tales and imagination. Elsa is seven, almost eight, while her grandmother is seventy-seven, almost seventy-eight. Adults call Elsa mature for her age, though they really find her annoying, and describe her grandmother as lively when they mean crazy. Elsa is different from everyone else and has no friends besides her grandmother, but she does not mind. Her grandmother tells her wonderful stories about a magical kingdom where nobody and nothing is normal, and being different is the greatest advantage. Then a dragon appears, as it sometimes does even in the finest fairy tales, and Elsa must face the enemy alone. She has to deliver a mysterious letter and tell its recipient that Grandma says hello and is sorry, unaware that she holds the key to the greatest and most important adventure ever to unfold in the grandmother’s fairy-tale kingdom. Written with the same lightness as A Man Called Ove, the novel draws readers into the story while entertaining and moving them.