Last Goddess

A woman delves into science and superstition, fear and persecution, and the hope and courage of belief in an award-winning and internationally bestselling novel by Kateřina Tučková.Last in a centuries-old lineage of healing women, Dora Idesová was raised by her aunt Surmena in the White Carpathians. Resistant to superstition, Dora grew up hearing stories of the “goddesses” who were said to conjure love and curses and, through divine connection, cure the spirit and the body. Now an academic, Dora is researching the tales that for generations spellbound the hillside where she grew up. As the mysteries become truths, they reveal a stunning discovery that reaches back from the witch trials of the seventeenth century through Nazi-occupied Germany. Embarking on an emotional journey, Dora is about to find out how deeply and fatefully she is entwined with secret tradition.Beautifully weaving together fact, folklore, and fiction, Kateřina Tučková draws on the stories of her ancestors to explore the extraordinary history of goddesses who walked the earth.

Praise for Kateřina Tučková’s Gerta “The story is an unvarnished chronicle of a young woman doing what she must to protect herself and her daughter.” —Historical Novel Society “Gerta’s main strength is its lyrical language, translated exquisitely from the original Czech into English by Véronique Firkusny. The nimble text elevates the narrative and evokes deep emotions, while succinct descriptions capture Gerta’s—and her country’s—pitiable condition.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “Tučková has tackled one [of] the most difficult chapters in European history, one that has been influencing the relationship between two nations for decades. It’s a tale of prejudice, of exclusion and collective shame. Gerta is both a disturbing novel and a wonderful piece of literature that could easily become a classic.” —The Constant Reader

Kateřina Tučková is a Czech playwright, publicist, biographer, art historian, exhibition curator, and bestselling author of The Last Goddess and Gerta. She has won several literary awards, including the Magnesia Litera Award (for both Gerta and The Last Goddess), the Brno City Prize for literature, the Josef Škvorecký Award, and the Czech Bestseller Award. Kateřina is also the recipient of the Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Award from the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and of the Premio Salerno Libro d’Europa at the book fair in Salerno, Italy. Between 2015 and 2018, she was a founder and first president of the Meeting Brno festival, focusing on international and intercultural dialogue. Kateřina currently lives in Prague and Brno, Czech Republic. Her books have been translated into nineteen languages, and her latest novel in Czech is Bílá Voda. For more information, visit www.katerina-tuckova.cz/en/.