Jiří Hájíček (born in České Budějovice) is one of the outstanding Czech authors of our time. He has received numerous high awards for his novels, all of which are set in the South Bohemian countryside. In Dresden he presents his book "Vignettes with a Sailing Ship" (Plachetnice na vinětách).
Marie, a divorced 47-year-old literature professor, is spending her summer vacation in Český Krumlov in her sister's nearly empty apartment. As she strolls through the streets in the stream of tourists, she meets the young bookseller Filip. Their budding romance has something of the atmosphere of a hot July day and is reminiscent of literary models. Marie had chosen the city mainly because she hoped to be able to improve her relationship with her sister and her old and sick parents and to take care of her own loneliness. Because she is in a life crisis: memories of the past overwhelm her, and the prospect of approaching old age is not pleasant either. The literary scholar recapitulates what was and considers how she wants to live in the future and what she can expect from a "Shakespearean love".
Translated from the Czech by Kristina Kallert.