“The Long Version” by Petra Hůlová

Translated from Czech into English by Alex Zucker. This book isn't out yet, but will be in September 2026. I received a digital ARC for it (thanks!). This novel follows a female author right after a recent book release. She’s ageing past 50 and her relationship with her works and as a public figure are changing. One day her two teenage children find her journals and snoop through them, finding out the questionable circumstances of how her career started. Her daughter is not letting it go, to great anger of the protagonist. It’s a painful confrontation that makes it clear that, (deliberately or not), if her daughter ever has to deal with something like that in her own life, she’ll have to deal with it on her own. This was a fascinating character study. I love reading unlikable main characters, but this really pushed the limits and almost made me reconsider. Probably because she’s so realistic, an everyday variety of frustrating person that completely got under my skin. In her thoughts…