Book cover for Lilliputin: Tales from a War by Jan Nemec

Lilliputin

Tales from a War

2023 Released
200 Pages
3-4 Hours
Ebook Unavailable
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Seagull BooksISBN 9781803093017
Translated by David Short
Written in the first four months of the war in Ukraine, fueled by anger towards mindless violence, Nemec's stories tackle the present moment and confront what really matters at times of abundant destruction.

A Czech man in Ukraine in search of his alter ego. A gang of homeless kids driven from a cellar by tenants using it as a shelter from the war. A German couple who 'rented a womb' in Ukraine, whose child is now stuck in Kyiv. A teenager partnered with a Valkyrie for the distribution of lavash in besieged Mariupol delays his flight until it is too late. A Russian academic mounting a protest in the center of Moscow dressed in a costume from Swan Lake. They may not be soldiers at the front, but for the characters in these stories, life will never again be as it was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this collection of short stories--two set in Ukraine, two in the West, and one in Russia--Czech author Jan Nemec has produced a work of remarkable immediacy.

Jan Nemec

Jan Němec is the author of four books in Czech. He has worked as a journalist and is currently the editor of the literary monthly Host and a freelance contributor to the daily Deník N. He is the author of a collection of short stories, Lilliputin, also published by Seagull Books.

More by Jan Nemec

David Short

Translated by

David Short is an acclaimed translator of numerous books from Czech and Slovak to English.

Why Readwise Books?

Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →