The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová

"The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová is a singular compendium—a handbook, a digest, an offering, a constellation in orbit around the strange bright star of nineteenth-century Czech writer Němcová. Via a series of carefully curated letters, excerpts, images, and documents, Němcová is brought to life in curious gasps. But the book is also a vivid and gripping portrait of another artist, Kelcey Parker Ervick, who, in searching for the other finds something of herself."  

“[O]ne of the least bitter, most loving books I have read in a long time, and it's beautifully made. Fans of Jenny Boully’s not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them and Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts — frankly, anyone interested in fairy tales and in memory and in desire — should read this haunting biographical collage. It’s a terrific work of lyric nonfiction, a form underrepresented on the fairy-tale shelves.”  

"Parker Ervick has transported me to Prague and shown the blending of fairy tales, history, and cultures laying the groundwork for Kafka’s surrealism (and exported far away, magic realism). With a touch of her magic, Parker Ervick plays with the shrouds of mystery surrounding Božena’s life and origins."