Description

Veronika Opatřilová

Translated by Matthew M. Greene

ISBN: 978-1-956921-76-2 (pbk.)

(COMING February 17, 2027) 

Veronika Opatřilová’s Wait for the Sea (Počkej na moře in the original Czech) follows the relationship between a 24-year-old Swedish student and a 35-year-old literature professor on the Isle of Wight, England, in the late 1960s, as they navigate the social, legal and internal dynamics of queer love. Its transnational plot notwithstanding, queer stories are still a rarity in Czech literature, and the novel’s strong reception on its release in 2022 attests to the consummate skill with which Opatřilová weaves their tale, quite brilliantly translated by Matthew Greene.

The story is told by an unnamed narrator, a Swedish student at a fictitious university in Newport on the Isle of Wight, as he falls in love with his literature professor and, after a period of haunting obsession, finally finds his attentions reciprocated. Wait for the Sea is a queer coming of age tale of two adults gradually learning who they are and how to be in a relationship with each other within a repressive social and political milieu.

Opatřilová weaves the story in a subtle and evocative prose reminiscent of Modernist masters like James and Forester, threading classic songs, poems, and events of the 60s to create an extraordinarily complete portrait of the era.