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large-scale displacement. “The English translation came out with the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Bellová says. “When I went to launch it in London, Europe was flooded with Ukrainian refugees and the topic was very hot; some readers asked me how I could predict it so well. I predicted nothing: I only worked with the historical experience many independent nations have with Russian imperialism, be it Georgia, Ukraine or the former Czechoslovakia.”


ellová was born in 1970 and she says the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of her country during the Prague Spring two years prior affected much of her early


life. She says: “It was the constant presence of an oppressive force and the menace of the consequences if you did or said something wrong. There were two ways of speaking about things: one you did at home and the other you did at work or school. This schism really taught us to value freedom of speech; we know what it takes to not have it.” That said, there was a degree of personal


freedom, as she and her friends “did things so dangerous that our parents would probably faint if they knew”. And books had always been part of her life, her parents’ and grandparents’ houses so full of them that she says she “never had to go to the library”. After graduating from Prague’s University


of the idea came from real life. Bellová says: “My books are a primordial soup made of memories, dreams, powerful encounters and many other ingredients. So the story was there waiting; but was triggered by a National Geographic photo reportage from what used to be Aral Sea [once the world’s fourth-largest lake, drained by Soviet irrigation]. All else just followed. “I couldn’t say why the main character had to be a young boy; the story simply demanded it. Perhaps the only reason was for this innocent soul to better reflect the ugliness of the world around him.” The environmental theme is not the only


urgent issue The Lake seems to anticipate as it also tackles state oppression and


of Economics and Business she worked as a translator and interpreter, publishing her first book, Sentimentální román (Sentimental Novel), in 2009. Her follow-up, Mrtvý muž (Dead Man), was the breakout, receiving widespread acclaim and translated into German by Vienna-based Braumüller. As a translator herself, Bellová loves when there is back-and-forth: “There are two types of translators. First, those who work independently, and I only become aware of their work on publication. The other type, much closer to my heart, are those who really care about the final outcome, they want their translation to be as faithful to the original as possible. So they keep bugging me with long lists of questions about what I meant by this or that: ‘Is that a general saying or did I just make that up? Is this space more of a pantry or a cupboard?’ It is these translators that eventually turn to friends, some of them very close.” Bellová is just about to publish her eighth


book and over her career has “learned to trust my intuition more because when I do, things start happening that I did not expect before I sat down to write. Writing is but a guided dream, as Borges once said. I learned that writing does not always have to be understood but it has to speak to the heart”.


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I couldn’t say why the main character had to be a young boy… Perhaps the only reason was for this innocent soul  ugliness of the world around him Bianca Bellová


BELLOVÁ IS ABOUT TO PUBLISH HER EIGHTH BOOK


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