The first English translation of Josef Capek’s classic novella explores what happens when a single violent act changes everything.

Two young poachers are caught by a gamekeeper and, in a moment of panic, shoot him. What began as a reckless adventure in pursuit of a deer becomes a desperate and increasingly hopeless flight through the forest. 

Shadow of the Holly-Fern stands among the finest literary achievements of Josef Capek, the Czech painter and illustrator who died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945 for his democratic convictions. The balladic novella is distinguished by its powerful portrayal of the fugitives’ inner lives; initially intoxicated by the beauty of the forest and a sense of freedom, they gradually succumb to mounting despair. Its intense focus on guilt and conscience recalls Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, while its language remains intensely lyrical and evocative. First published in 1930, the book remains one of the enduring masterpieces of Czech literature and is presented here in English for the first time in a lucid translation by Geoffrey Chew.