My Brother the Messiah

The Jewish-Czech author Martin Vopěnka is one of the leading voices in world literature, writing  ‘with a deft and compellingly simple control of sentences that is reminiscent of both Kafka and Kundera’ – Choice.Martin Vopěnka was born in Prague in 1963. The son of the famous mathematician Petr Vopěnka, Martin studied Mathematics and Physics at the Czech Technical University in Prague, but was always intent on being a writer. His first novel, Kameny z hor (Rocks from the Mountains) recorded memories and emotions from a journey across the Romanian Carpathians. The themes explored in his books go beyond the local themes of much Czech literature. He views the contemporary world with caution, and contributes polemic articles to the national daily paper MF Dnes. In 2016 his Nová Planeta (New Planet) won the country’s premier Golden Ribbon Award.Anna Bryson wasborn in Birmingham in the UK in 1955. She studied modern history at OxfordUniversity, where she went on to obtain a DPhil in history (1984). Her history book, From Courtesy to Civility, Changing Codes ofConduct in Early Modern England, was published by Oxford University Pressin 1998. She wasappointed Lecturer in Intellectual History in the School of European Studies atSussex University in 1985,where she developed an interest in East European and specifically Czechculture. Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989 she spent a sabbatical inPrague and in 1991 she decided to move there permanently.  From 1991 to2010 she worked as an advisor and translator in the International RelationsDepartment at Charles University in Prague, and also lectured at thePhilosophical Faculty and Faculty of Social Sciences, as well as writingoccasional pieces on Czech life and culture in the British press. She also established a reputationas a translator of academic articles and monographs in history, social sciencesand the arts. Her more recent book-length academic translations includeMiroslav Verner, Temple of the World:Sanctuaries, Cults, and Mysteries of Ancient Egypt (2013)  and Vaclav Houzvicka,  Czechsand Germans 1848-2004: The Sudeten Question and the Transformation of CentralEurope (2016). In the field offiction, Anna Bryson translated the Czech novelist Martin Vopenka’s novel Ballad of Descent (1995, NorthwesternUniversity Press 1995), and has continued to work with him over the years, forexample on extracts from his work for the Prague Writers’ Festival and mostrecently his ecological fairy stories, Talesfrom the Windy Mountains.  Since 2010 AnnaBryson has worked as an entirely freelance translator, editor and writer. Herwork appears both under her maiden name and her married name Anna BrysonGustova.

'Well worth your time. Vopenka tells a dystopian tale about hope amid chaos, and about the drawbacks, and the consolations, of faith.' - James Lovegrove, The Financial Times'Vopěnka has yet again produced a book that explores many pressing issues of the near future. Highly readable, beautiful and terrifying at the same time, it presents to us a future that may not be as distant as it may seem at first sight.” - Eliška Prokopová, iLiteratura‘Rivals Orwell’s 1984’ - Digitimes'Weaves a gloomy, gripping, spiritual spell all of its own.'- Simon Ings, The Times (where it was selected as Science Fiction Book of the Month)'My Brother the Messiah presents a nightmarish vision of a future where human selfishness has all but destroyed the Earth, and the only apparent hope is either in religion or science. Czech author Martin Vopenka tackles complex contemporary issues in his writing. My Brother the Messiah is no exception—a quietly profound story that moves slowly at a deliberate pace and stays compelling. It presents a subtle and provocative meditation on the nature of faith and hope in the face of despair and chaos.' - Tessa Chudy, Aurealis‘Vopenka's voice is Czech yet global and his prose compelling.' - Jewish Renaissance'Vopenka creates a dynamic and vivid account of societies in complete free-fall... chillingly beautiful in its descriptive violence. This is an Acts of the Apostles for a post-Christian Europe,...Yet the author is not a Czech Nikos Kazantzakis imposing wholesale an aged scriptural drama onto a current or future society. The book’s ending proves that conclusively. It is satisfyingly uncertain and unexpected: troubling and problematic certainly, but also with a candle’s flicker of warm comfort.' - Paul Simon, Morning Star'A wryly humorous, disturbing novel that refuses the pitfalls of either lazy rationalism or unthinking faith.' - The British Science Fiction Association