Jan Mydlář was the executioner of Prague's Old Town during the first part of the 17th century. As executioner, he was present for some of the historical and seminal events of the era. He was best known for executing 27 Bohemian rebels in 1627. Josef Svátek claims to have found extensive notes written by Mydlář, and based on those, he wrote this novel.
From an historical aspect, the novel is quite accurate. All the events took place as described. All the main characters in the novel can be readily found in history books.
One thing that was not accurate, though, was the description of being drawn and quartered. In this narrative, a victim has his arms and legs tied with those ropes being attached to horses. When the horses pull away, the victim's arms and legs are pulled off, leaving only a torso on the ground. However, the torso had not been secured in any way, so in reality, the torso would have remained attached to one of the limbs. Whether this is a mistake by the author or on by a faulty translation, I can't say.
I was surprised at the number of offenses that were punished by execution. Also, the practice of "executing" people already dead was something new to me.
The author wrote the novel at the turn of the last century, and the writing style reflects a different type of novel as we generally have today. It reads more like a laundry list at times with very little descriptive writing. Most of the executions were glossed over with sentences such as "I hung him" or "I took off his head."
The translator of the book, who is not named, made use of some very modern phrases and idioms, and I found them a bit jarring given the time frame and tone of the narrative.
Despite the subject matter, the book was not particularly graphic or gruesome when compared to modern horror, paranormal, military fiction, and crime novels. People were simply executed, and while the preparations for the executions were delineated in detail, the executions themselves, as I noted above, were not.
This is not a book for readers looking for a bloodfest, nor is it a moving personal tale such as "The Hangman's Daughter." For people who want to get a glimpse of Prague in the early 17th Century or who are interested in the life of an executioner, then this book is a very good read.
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Top reviews from other countries
Whitehatter
A novel way of writing a biography of a historical if reviled figure; an executioner in Prague
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 1, 2014
Maggie Kelly
Well written, gruesome but entertaining
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 21, 2012
AM Groves
Gruesome topic I couldn't stop reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 12, 2014
