The second edition of the memoirs of the free-spirited journalist and wife of S. K. Neumann. The book is an exceptional testimony to the dark side of the life of a great poet, whose true story usually does not fill the pages of textbooks. The author met Neumann in 1904. She began visiting his famous villa in Olšany, and before long, they grew close and fled to Vienna. This was followed by eighteen years of shared life; loving moments alternated with periods of hatred and the flight of one or the other. Neumann's fondness for alcohol and romantic escapades is well-known. The memoirs capture – often in scandalous contexts – a whole range of personalities: the Čapek brothers as plagiarists and careerists, Toman as a vagabond, the unfaithful Majerová, and many others... The book can be read in various ways – as "gossip" about the famous, chapters from the history of Czech literature, a novel about the difficult fate of women, and a feminist pamphlet settling scores with the world of men. It is no wonder that it was unpublishable at the time of its creation.
