Tapetář – Labudová Ema (2019)

Some secrets cannot be hidden by even the thickest layer... A young Czech author has written a fresh novel set in the British fishing town of Whitby in Yorkshire during the 1950s. The main character, Irving, is a twenty-year-old gay man whose parents die shortly after each other. Irving's encounter with the rest of his family at the funeral awakens memories that the young man has long tried to "wallpaper over"... Manchester in the 1950s and 60s was certainly not the freest city for a contemplative young man like Irving. He cannot even leave his apartment without being watched by the curious eyes of neighbors – potential informants, and those depressive owls just won't fly off his weary shoulders... This craftily brilliant monologue prose has the potential to make a mark in the realm of young Czech literature: the gradual revelation of secrets and poignant events from the narrator's past rivals the methods of the classic British detective school, and the uniqueness of the central character is a source of ongoing surprises, with strong and believable emotions related to different characters and their complex relationships delivered with entomological precision. Ema Labudová won the Literary Prize of the Book Club 2019 for her book The Wallpaperer.