Straka na šibenici – Petr Daniel (2015)

Understanding one's own life and finding oneself does not necessarily mean victory. Imagine Pieter Bruegel's painting The Magpie on the Gallows. A child sees primarily a bird sitting on a strange swing, while an adult completely overlooks the magpie, as the gallows stand at the center of their attention. The hero of the novel lives with his alcoholic father in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of a northern Czech backwater. Although he learns to read before his peers even step into school due to his intelligence, he remains trapped in a nearly medieval ignorance full of ghosts and demons, shaped by his father's distorted views on upbringing. Since childhood, Bruegel's painting has accompanied him, returning in various situations like a cipher to be deciphered. In adulthood, he leaves his wife and newborn daughter and narrowly escapes prison for tax evasion. Like his father, he spends whole days drunk on the couch, and the only thing that interests him is the reason why his mother disappeared long ago. Eventually, he returns to the village where he spent his childhood and, through a strange encounter, comes to realize that finding oneself requires sacrifice.