Seven Churches, The

Translated into eleven languages and a runaway bestseller in Spain as well as the Czech Republic, The Seven Churches - by the 'dark knight of Czech literature', Milos Urban - is a bloody, atmospheric modern classic of crime literature and one of the most haunting and terrifying thrillers to come out of Europe in years. Written in the spirit of the sensation story but with rich Gothic overtones, The Seven Churches is set in the medieval Nove Mesto (New Town) of Prague, a quarter with seven Gothic churches. Here the narrator, known simply as K, witnesses a bizarre accident followed by a series of mysterious murders. This event triggers a series of meetings with Gothic characters who appear to be trying to reconstruct the medieval 'golden age' of Prague in the reign of Charles IV under the noses if its modern-day inhabitants. The first English translation by Robert Russell of Urban's signature work is one of the events in foreign fiction this year.