Smrt dokonalé věty – Raud Rein (2025)

This novel follows the final months of Estonia under Soviet rule, offering a vivid, multifaceted picture of the days before Estonian independence. It portrays a time of fear and uncertainty, but also hope and courage, as the forces of independence confront the Soviet Union’s last efforts to preserve the old order. A group of young dissidents devises a plan to smuggle copies of secret KGB files out of the country. They are aided by a Russian teacher and a young art student who becomes involved in the dissident movement almost by chance. KGB agents from both Russian and Estonian ranks appear alongside older Estonians content with the status quo. Gradually, the novel reveals who stands on which side and why. Lives intertwine, chance encounters become fateful meetings, and when the Estonian Maarja meets a young Russian man, the political and espionage story gains a romantic dimension. Rein Raud’s attention to detail offers a convincing insight into everyday Estonian life while opening up universal questions about human relationships and trust in a time when history is being written and the old world is replaced by a new one. The contents are in Czech. Rein Raud is a prominent Estonian liberal intellectual and acclaimed prose writer whose work includes poetry, novels, short fiction and plays. He has also worked as a professor of cultural studies and written extensively on cultural theory, literature and philosophy, particularly in modern and premodern Japan.