Discover Prague: Top Novels that Capture the Czech Capital
Find the Best Books Set in Prague – To truly understand Prague, one must go beyond the tourist guides and step into the city through its literature. These modern classics, written by Czech and international authors, do more than use Prague as a mere backdrop—they reveal its soul and history. Through stories of resistance, love and absurdity, these novels capture the city’s rich cultural heritage: from the alleyways of Kafka’s imagination to the repression under the Nazi and Communist regimes, the chaotic optimism of the 1990s, and into the present day. Reading these books offers a deeper appreciation of Prague and a more thoughtful way to walk through its streets and squares.
Explore books set in the Czech Republic beyond Prague in our dedicated article.
Set in the streets of Nazi-occupied Prague, HHhH brings to life one of the most daring acts of resistance during the Second World War: the assassination of top Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. Through a gripping blend of historical narrative and personal reflection, Binet’s award-winning book leads readers through the preparation, execution, and tragic aftermath of the attack, revealing how Prague became both a battleground and a symbol of defiance.
- Setting: Prague, Lidice and Ležáky.
- Published: 2010
- Original title: HHhH
- 336 pages
In the haunting atmosphere of communist Prague, Love Letter in Cuneiform captures the lives of a Czech couple as they navigate political repression, emotional distance, and enduring love. Czech author Zmeškal paints a deeply personal portrait of Prague—at once intimate, scarred, and resilient.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2008
- Original title: Milostný dopis klínovým písmem
- 328 pages
Returning to a Prague transformed by the fall of communism, dancer Leonora Marty retraces her steps through a city teeming with ghosts of the past and hopes for the future. In Transfigured Night, Prague becomes a reflective landscape of identity and romance, caught between memories of authoritarianism and the promises of a new era.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1996
- Original title: Verklärte Nacht
- 125 pages
Prague in the early 1990s—vibrant, chaotic, and brimming with opportunity—forms the lively backdrop to this sharp, darkly funny tale of an affair between a schoolteacher and the daughter of a shady businessman. In Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia, Czech writer Viewegh captures a post-communist Prague in flux, where art, love, and corruption collide.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1994
- Original title: Výchova dívek v Čechách
- 187 pages
Behind the façades of Cold War Prague, porcelain collector Kaspar Utz lives in a gilded prison of his own making. In Utz, the city’s melancholic beauty mirrors the tension between freedom and obsession, offering a meditation on art, exile, and the quiet compromises made under authoritarian rule. A forgotten gem by a great British novelist and travel writer.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1988
- Original title: Utz
- 160 pages
Sweeping the streets of communist Prague while wrestling with personal guilt and forbidden love, a dissident writer reflects on life in a society where truth is suppressed and freedom is fleeting. Love and Garbage, by Czech author Ivan Klíma, turns the capital of Czechoslovakia into a philosophical companion—gritty, poetic, and full of forgotten stories.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1986
- Original title: Láska a smetí
- 223 pages
Set against the backdrop of the Prague during the Prague Spring of 1968, Kundera’s celebrated novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being explores love, fidelity, and freedom under the watchful eyes of the communist regime. A modern classic of Czech literature that pulses with sensuality and philosophical depth.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1984
- Original title: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí
- 320 pages
From the bustling hotels of pre-war Prague to the Second World War occupation by the Nazis and the disillusionment of the communist era, I Served the King of England is a masterpiece of 20th century Czech literature. Prague and other locations in Czechoslovakia are portrayed as places of dark comedy and opportunism, where personal ambition collides with national catastrophe.
- Setting: Prague and other places in Czechoslovakia
- Published: 1983
- Original title: Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále
- 288 pages
In 17th-century Prague, Johannes Kepler searches the skies for cosmic order. The historical novel Kepler—by Booker Prize winner John Banville—brings to life a city steeped in both science and superstition, and paints a deeply personal portrait of a renowned Enlightenment scientist.
- Setting: Prague, Graz (Austria), Linz (Austria)
- Published: 1981
- Original title: Kepler
- 208 pages
Deep in the Jewish quarter of 16th-century Prague, a rabbi shapes a figure out of clay to defend his people—but the creation soon grows beyond control. The novella The Golem, by Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Singer, breathes mystical life into Prague’s ancient synagogues and winding streets, capturing its rich folklore, culture, and history.
- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1969
- Original title: דער גולם
- 88 pages
Set in Nazi-occupied Prague, a tragic comedy—or is it a comic tragedy—unfolds, beginning with a German order to remove a statue of a Jewish composer and ending in the darkness of Terezín. Mendelssohn is on the Roof transforms Prague into a stage of absurdity and persecution, mirroring both the dangers faced and the resistance shown by its wartime inhabitants.
- Setting: Prague, Terezin ghetto (Theresienstadt)
- Published: 1959
- Original title: Na střeše je Mendelssohn
- 273 pages
Though never explicitly named, the brooding, bureaucratic labyrinth of The Trial evokes the alleys and institutions of Kafka’s native Prague. This classic of German-language literature is a timeless portrait of alienation and injustice whereby the city is transformed into a psychological maze.
- Setting: Likely Prague
- Published: 1925
- Original title: Der Prozess
- 229 pages
From smoky taverns to army offices, Prague is where Švejk’s satirical journey as a conscript in the First World War begins. The Good Soldier Švejk is the most translated Czech novel—a classic anti-war tale that immortalises Prague and other locations in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire as places of wit, naïve obedience, and absurd heroism.
- Setting: Prague and other places in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Published: 1921-1923
- Original title: Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války
- 784 pages
More novels set in Prague:
Some of these will be explored in more detail in future posts.
Notes from Underground by Roger Scruton
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2014
- Original title: Notes from Underground
- 216 pages
Ceilings by Zuzana Brabcová
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2012
- Original title: Stropy
- 228 pages
- Winner of the Magnesia Litera Award
Three Faces of an Angel by Jiří Pehe
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- Setting: Mainly Prague
- Published: 2009
- Original title: Tři tváře anděla
- 461 pages
Case Closed by Patrik Ouředník
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2006
- Original title: Ad acta
- 143 pages
- Notable: The author, Patrik Ouředník, was awarded the Czech State Award for Literature.
Empty Streets by Michal Ajvaz
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2004
- Original title: Prázdné ulice
- 360 pages
- Notable: Winner of the Jaroslav Seiert Prize
Three Plastic Rooms by Petra Hůlová
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 2006
- Original title: Umělohmotný třípokoj
- 196 pages
The Widow Killer by Pavel Kohout
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1995
- Original title: Hvězdná hodina vrahů
- 400 pages
- The author, Pavel Kohout, was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature.
City Sister Silver by Jáchym Topol
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1994
- Original title: Sestra
- 512 pages
- Notable: The author, Jáchym Topol, was awarded the Czech State Award for Literature.
Prague, I See a City by Daniela Hodrová
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1992
- Original title: Tři tváře anděla
- 106 pages
- The author, Daniela Hodrová, received the Franz Kafka Prize, the Magnesia Litera Prize, and the Czech State Award for Literature.
City of Torment trilogy by Daniela Hodrová
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1991-1992
- Original title: Trýznivé město
- 616 pages
- The author, Daniela Hodrová, was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, the Magnesia Litera Prize, and the Czech State Award for Literature.
Judge on Trial by Ivan Klíma
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1986
- Original title: Soudce z milosti
- 549 pages
- The author, Ivan Klíma, received the Franz Kafka Prize and the Magnesia Litera award
The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1985
- Original title: The Prague Orgy
- 96 pages
- The author, Philip Roth, was awarded several literary prizes, including the Man Booker International Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award for Fiction (twice), the National Book Critics Circle Award (twice), and the PEN/Faulkner Award (trice).
My Companions in the Bleak House by Eva Kantůrková
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- Setting: Prague (Ruzyně prison)
- Published: 1984
- Original title: Přítelkyně z domu smutku
- 304 pages
- Winner of the Tom Stoppard Prize.
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1976
- Original title: Příliš hlučná samota
- 112 pages
The Guinea Pigs by Ludvík Vaculík
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1970
- Original title: Morčata
- 180 pages
Miss Silver’s Past by Josef Škvorecký
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1969
- Original title: Lvíče
- 268 pages
- The author, Josef Škvorecký, was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
Life with a Star by Jiří Weil
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1949
- Original title: Život s hvězdou
- 256 pages
Prague Tales (Tales of the Lesser Quarter) by Jan Neruda
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- Setting: Prague
- Published: 1877
- Original title: Povídky malostránské
- 368 pages
- Notable: Jan Neruda is often called the Czech Charles Dickens. The Chilean poet and Nobel Prize laureate Pablo Neruda adopted the pseudonym Neruda in homage to this Czech author.