Hana

Alena Mornstajnova (1963) is a Czech fiction writer and translator. She wrotefour novels and one book for children. Alena Mornstajnova studied English andCzech at Ostrava University. For years, she worked as English teacher. She alsotranslates from English. She made her debut in 2013 with the novel Slepa mapa(Blind Map), and her second novel Hotylek (The Little Hotel) came out in 2015. Itwas primarily due to her third novel, Hana, from 2017 that Alena Mornstajnovabecame one of the most popular contemporary Czech writers. Up to now, Hanahas been published in five languages, and eight more foreign editions are underpreparation just now, including English, German and Italian. Alena Mornstajnovahas won several awards: among others, her novel Hana received the 2018Czech Book Award and became the 2017 Book of the Year on the websiteDatabaze knih (Database of Books). Her latest novel Tiche roky (Years ofSilence, 2019) went to the top of the national bestseller list immediately afterpublication. In total, more than 250,000 copies of the author's books have beensold in the Czech Republic. Alena Mornstajnova lives in Valasske Mezirici.

Gradually, Mira uncovers the secrets of their troubled family history and begins to understand why her aunt is so incapable of trusting herself and the world around her.Deftly weaving two separate timelines, the harrowing reasons behind Hana’s reclusive way of life, the guilt she wears as palpably as a cloak, and the tattoo on her wrist, are revealed to Mira. Alena Mornštajnová’s gripping novel, which is based on real events, has won numerous awards and been translated into over a dozen languages across the world. Foreign editions:Slovenian (Mohorjeva Družba, 2019), Latvian (Izdevniecība Pētergalis, 2019), Polish (Amaltea, 2019), Bulgarian (SONM, 2019), Croatian (Hena Com, 2019)Rights sold to:Macedonia (ArtConnect), Hungary (Szláv Textus), Slovakia (Aktuell), Italy (Keller Editore), United Kingdom (Parthian Books), Syria (Ninawa), Greece (Alexandria), Austria (Wieser Verlag)