Wounds

So our Baruna has flown away. It is almost a year now… How do you cope with the death of a daughter, or a sister? Searching for the answer to this question keeps the surviving members of the Lundák family awake at night. Or is it more a case of a guilty conscience? But after all, the miserable girl brought it on herself! If only she had not misbehaved so much, always answered back, helped out a bit at home, and not wasted her time drawing and dreaming… And life goes relentlessly on, you have to think about other things. Her mother has more than enough worries at the library and at home, her marriage is falling apart before her eyes, and she searches in vain for someone to appreciate her or at least listen to her. At least her younger daughter Katka is a sensible, good, and obedient girl – she raised her well, and she will certainly not turn out like Bára! If only that art teacher, Frodo, would stop filling her head with nonsense. But she will keep an eye on them, both Katuška and her simpleton husband Václav. And she will start looking after herself more – after all, she has sacrificed herself enough for the family already! The sequel to the audiobook Vrány (Crows) does not shy away from exploring painful wounds, such as the death of a loved one, toxic relationships, or domestic abuse in family life. Petra Dvořáková's heavy yet powerful story about the evil lurking behind the doors of seemingly safe homes was first published in Poland, where it immediately became a bestseller. “Since Vrány was published, I have realised how easily we fall into the illusion that a child favoured by their parents is doing well. That is why I wrote the sequel, to speak of the suffering of ‘golden children’ who are never allowed to fail. And about parents who never change.” – author Petra Dvořáková “When considering the Polish success of her books, it is also important to mention the author's style – she writes in a very accessible, simple language, while possessing an outstanding storytelling talent. She tells universal stories about relationships, the search for acceptance, growing up, and trauma.” – Anna Maślanka on the book Rány (Wounds) for Dziennik Literacki “Just as with the author's previous books, and this is especially true of last year's Chirurg (The Surgeon), the reader will not be able to put Vrány down. The depiction of individual situations and the entire spiral of hopelessness, into which the girl gets deeper and deeper despite all her efforts, is highly suggestive and feels authentic. The growing despair therefore has the potential to evoke strong emotions.” – from a review of the book Vrány on the iLiteratura.cz website It might look to outsiders like I have somehow come to terms with what happened to Bára. But that is one big mistake. The sheer horror of it all, from start to finish. Knowing that you do everything you can, but a child is simply born the way they are born, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. The helplessness of a parent trying their best, yet there is still no solution, is indescribable. Sometimes I think about how things would be now if it had not ended in that whole disaster. I take comfort in the fact that the girl would never have changed anyway. That everything would have only got worse. And she brought the way it ended on herself. It was written in her character. If it had not happened a year ago, it would have happened later. The worst part is what came after, the horror we had to live through. You raise a child to make something of themselves, and they just do not get it, time and again. And then they vanish. They are just gone. They fly away. Just to show they will have their own way again. At all costs. Even at the cost of what it puts their parents through. But Bára never thought of us. She could only ever see herself. Nobody else existed for her. Not me and Václav, and in the end, not even Katka. It must have been a shock for her too. And because of Baruna, she has to face the consequences we now carry. On the other hand – at least she does not have to be constantly present during the arguments and conflicts that Baruna always started. And it is true that Katuška and I are much closer now. I can tell her so many things and she is sensible, she listens to you. It is just a shame she cannot give me the advice I need. – extract from the book