A collection of short stories that intertwine the lives of six women, revealing the profound realities beneath their ordinary existence.

Following her divorce, Tereza shuts off emotionally and flits from one faceless lover to the next, until an unexpected visitor shakes her existence to the core. Klara is a bird trapped in a golden cage slowly suffocating her. Eva has sacrificed herself for her children and family. Life is one big party for Karla—or is it? Alice is doing everything she can not to be a crybaby like her mother. Petra has finally had enough and takes drastic measures. Magdalena’s true yearnings bubble up to the surface.
 
The stories of these six characters may be different, but these women’s paths converge throughout Places in the Dark, weaving a vivid tapestry of interconnected lives. Czech author Lidmila Kábrtová is a master of writing stories of astonishing clarity. Echoing the brilliance of Alice Munro, Kábrtová’s words act as translucent veils, allowing the essential truths to shimmer through. Moments move about on tectonic plates somewhere beneath the surface of the everyday, and nothing will be as it used to be. Yet, in this kaleidoscope of narratives, the question lingers: Was it ever truly as it seemed?

Lidmila Kábrtová is the author of “Grey / Šedivák,” a radio play for children, several plays for the CRo Vltava radio project One Minute Plays, and the experimental novel Foxes Drink Up, which comprises chapters of exactly fifty words. Alžbeta Belánová is a translator based in Prague whose work has been published in literary journals and by publishers such as Motto Press and Comma Press.

1.Wild Woman
2.Ladybird
3.Kids
4.Vanilla Crescents
5.Glass Apples
6.Animal Testing Lab
7.Church Lady
8.Praga Mater Urbium
9.Underwater
10.Cygnus the Swan
11.New Guys
12.A Second Night by the Lake
13.Author’s Notes