"I felt the need to explain my life to someone, to review it for myself, to value it and to share it," writes Monika Zgustova (Prague, 1957) in her latest novel, The Translator of Haikus (Galàxia Gutenberg, 2026). The writer and translator attributes the phrase to the protagonist, Jana, a woman born in Prague in 1939 who leaves her country to start a new life in the United States. Jana is the alter ego of her mother, lives under a communist regime and faces a profound dilemma: what should come first, ethical principles or the safety of her children? Through her, Zgustova fictionalizes the story of the exile of her parents, herself, and her brother with a novel that faces a harsh reality head-on and, at the same time, seeks reconciliation.