Trek, pot a slzy - Cesta na vrcholy Pyrenejí a do hlubin duše – Dobešová Markéta (2025)

The autobiographical travel novel Trek, Sweat, and Tears is a sincere and open story that recounts the author's journey along Europe's toughest trek, the Haute Route des Pyrénées. She embarked on her 880-kilometer pilgrimage through wild mountains without sufficient experience and with a nearly unknown man, driven by complex life motivations dominated by love, disappointment from unfulfilled expectations, and the need to come to terms with a new life fate and forever lost dreams. However, the desire for spiritual catharsis threw her into a tough trial, where she had to face risky mountain terrain, complicated relationships with her companion Kamil, and even fear for her life. In the hard labor represented by constant walking in remote mountains, at the very bottom of feelings of hopelessness and confusion, she ultimately found the desired way out for her life, but completely different from what she had imagined.

The book unfolds in three plot lines, with the crossing of the Pyrenees being just one of them, their framework. The second theme that appears in the book in retrospect is the author's professional life. The uncertainty of a musician's profession, accompanied by the search for stable employment and the struggle for recognition, kept her on the edge of financial independence for many years. Together with...