Prague-set novel earns spot on BBC's best books of 2024 list

The BBC’s list of 2024’s best novels showcases a range of literary luminaries, from Polish Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk to Irish critical darling Sally Rooney. Among these celebrated names is Helen Oyeyemi, whose latest novel, Parasol against the Axe, is set in Prague, the city she has called home for a decade. Publishers Weekly describes the book as “a bold, readable, and experimental novel, portraying Prague as a city of dreams and mysteries.”

Oyeyemi’s work, infused with her signature blend of fantasy and literary allusion and packed with references to Czech folklore, history, and pop culture from Kofola to Kabát, is indeed dreamlike and intricate. At its core is Hero Tojosoa, a visitor to Prague who arrives for a hen weekend with friends, carrying with her a peculiar book. The text of this book transforms depending on who reads it, revealing the layered and surprising stories of fictional Prague residents.

As the women gather to celebrate, their individual memories and perspectives converge, crafting a narrative that underscores Oyeyemi’s thematic exploration: the multiplicity of stories and the fluidity of truth. The BBC hailed Parasol against the Axe as “vast and enigmatic, carried by sentences so crisp and lithe, it is like nothing you’ve ever read before.”

In an interview with The Guardian, Oyeyemi acknowledged the challenge of writing about Prague, citing the surrealist poetry of Vítězslav Nezval as an inspiration.

“I knew I had to add to this body of work about Prague,” she said. But writing about the city, she admitted, required negotiation. “Prague doesn’t want to be put into anyone’s story; so many people have come and tried to make it part of this or that empire, and it hasn’t worked. I had to say: ‘I’m not making a portrait of you, OK? I’m just going to tell some stories where you’re in the background.’”

Oyeyemi’s reflections on her adopted home resonate within Parasol against the Axe where she writes, “If you don't know [Czech] whatever you think you know about Prague is fundamentally compromised.” The author has admitted her own command of the language remains modest.

“I can complain about a gas bill,” she told The Guardian in early 2024, “but living here has taught me to be OK with not really understanding that much—or being understood—because I realized it translates to so many of my experiences in English as well.”

This willingness to inhabit ambiguity and embrace the in-between makes Parasol against the Axe a fitting ode to a city that defies categorization. In Oyeyemi’s hands, Prague becomes a character in its own right, elusive and enigmatic, as captivating as her prose.

Helen Oyeyemi’s Parasol against the Axe has not only landed on the BBC’s prestigious list but was also recognized by AnOther magazine in its roundup of 2024’s most anticipated fiction, where Oyeyemi’s name appears alongside literary heavyweights like Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti.

It's fair to say that the novel, with its absurdist humor and restless energy, has a kinship with the Czech literary tradition of Bohumil Hrabal and Karel Čapek as well. Oyeyemi's modern fairy tale, rich with sly inside jokes about Czech culture, pays homage to the nation's storytelling heritage.