Translations

21st Century - new translations

- Charlotte Jacobi (pseudonym of two authors, Eva-Marie Bast and Jorn Precht:

Trilogy Perfumery Douglas,
translated into Czech from the German original Die Douglas Schwestern, under the title Parfumerie Douglas.

A family saga taking place from 1876 to 1936

Perfumery Douglas 1 -
Creation of a Family Empire
(Die Douglas Schwestern 1)
Czech title Parfumerie Douglas - Vznik rodinného impéria

Publishing House: Euromedia Group 2022
Number of pages: 365
Hard cover:
ISBN 978-80-249-5012-9

Contents
Even as a little girl, Marie Carstens was fascinated by the perfumes of Hamburg ladies. With her sister Anna they make a promise that one day they will open their own perfumery. While the father supports them in their plans, the anxious mother sabotages the sisters' efforts. But the sisters finally, in spite of all obstacles (it is not easy to be a female entrepriser in those days, a desaster of the 1st World War is another hindrance) realize their dream and create a world of fragrances in their own Douglas perfumery in Hamburg - a great adventure of their lives begins.

Contents:
Hamburg, 1929. Sisters Hertha and Lucie inherited the prosperous Douglas perfumery in which they worked for years, from their godmothers.  Lucie just fell in love and Hertha gave birth to a second child. Nevertheless, both are firmly determined to continue their godmothers life's work. However, when the global economic crisis hits and nationalistic politics increasingly wins, when HItler gets to power,  they have to fight more than ever to continue to convey the magic of fragrance to the world.

- Michelle Marly:
Maria Callas - The greatest singer of her time and drama of her love

translated from German original  "Die Diva. Maria Callas - die Groesste Saengerin ihrer Zeit und das Drama ihrer Liebe", Aufbau Verlag 2020 into Czech

Czech title: Maria Callasová - Největší pěvkyně své doby a drama její lásky

Publishing House IKAR 2022
Number of pages: 343
Hard Cover
ISBN 978-80-249-4888-1

Contents:
Maria Callas – la Divina, the divine voice and the eternal voice of love
Venice 1957: Maria Callas is the most famous singer of her time, but the artistic excellence she embodies on stage is starting to take its toll. Her voice is in danger of failing, and Maria longs for a break, which neither the opera world nor her manager and husband Meneghini will grant her. Then she meets shipowner Aristotle Onassis and they fall in love against all odds - until Onassis meets Jackie Kennedy. A charming novel about Maria Callas, an artist who far surpasses all others and is the embodiment of grace and charisma, but above all a woman passionately in love.

- Marie Lacrosse: trilogy The Winery
(from German original Das Weingut translated into Czech)

The Winery 1 – In Turbulent Times (in Czech V bouřlivých časech)
Published by Ikar, Czech Republic 2020, edition World Bestseller
Original Title in German In stürmischen Zeiten, 2018
Number of pages: 496
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-80-249-4162-2

The Winery 2 – The New Beginning (in Czech Nový začátek)
Published by Ikar, Czech Republic, 2021, edition World Bestseller
Original Title in German:  Aufbruch in ein neues Leben, 2019
Number of Pages: 496
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-80-249-4323-7

The Winery 3 – Fateful Days (in Czech Osudové dny)
It will be published by Ikar, Czech Republic, October 2021
Original Title in German: Tage des Schicksals, 2019
Number of pages: 568
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-80-249-4518-7

Contents of the trilogy

Wilhelm Gerban, owner of a winery, brings young Irena to his household as a maid from an orphanage. Irena is intelligent, pretty and hardworking, she didn't let the orphanage break her. So it happens that the son of the landlord Franz falls in love with her. Family intrigues and the Franco-Prussian War 1870 are the main reasons why they are separated, as it seems, forever. Irena has to run away, gives birth to Franz's child, about the existence of which he doesn't have a clue, and to keep the whole matter from being revealed, Wilhelm Gerban has his opium-dependent wife, Franz's mother, locked up in a madhouse.

The war is over, Franz returns home but he has lost his leg. He doesn't understand why Irena disappeared and is worried that she doesn't want him anymore because he is a cripple. However, he keeps looking for her. Irena is struggling, working hard in a textile factory, from which she is later on fired for the participation in a strike, and she takes care of little Franny.  Coincidentally, Franz's sister Matilda is the one who brings the two lovers back together, although she is not positively inclined to Irena at all. Matilda is getting married to the owner of one of the textile factories, in which Irena eventually achieved a position of a foreman, and thus contributes to their reunion. However, there are many more obstacles which their love has to face. Irena has been living with one of the workers' leaders, Josef, and she is very much involved in the labour movement, especially in fight for women's rights. Fortunately, the clever Franz's mother manages through her cunning behaviour to get out of the madhouse and explains last minute to the young couple why their marriage is not impossible. Finally they can get married.

Franz and Irena are happy and have two more daughters, twins. When the children grow up, Irena begins to feel dissatisfied and useless, with no useful activity to fulfil her life. She wants to continue helping working-class women and meets again her former lover Josef to ask him for guidance. Franz is jealous, and when Irena tells him repeatedly lies about the destination of her journeys, the marriage is near collapse. Franz has given up for Irena a better social status and wealth and he cannot overcome her alleged betrayal. Tragic fate strikes and one of the daughters dies of diphtheria, the other one remains sickly, so that Irena has to spend months in various spas with her. Meanwhile, Franny has grown into a young man, who has, similarly to his mother, strong social feelings. The police catches him when he is distributing illegal newspapers and he is condemned to a juvenile detention. A little bit later also his father Franz becomes a victim of police persecution when accidentally participating in a demonstration. In this way, Franz starts to understand Irena's efforts, stops hindering her activities, and decides that his rightful place is with his family on the wine farm. The third part of the trilogy ends with the wedding of Franny to an orphaned daughter of Irena's friend in the same church where Irena and Franz married years ago.
 

- Michelle Marly
(pseudonym of German novelist Micaela Jary):
Mademoiselle Coco and the Fragrance of Love

translated from German original  Mademoiselle Coco and der Duft der Liebe into Czech

Czech title: Mademoiselle Coco a vůně lásky
Publishing House: Ikar 2019
Number of pages: 384
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-80-249-3930-8

Paris 1919. The novel starts at the moment when Coco Chanel succeeded in building up a successful fashion salon. But when her lover Boy Capel unexpectedly dies in a car accident, she is completely paralyzed with grief. Only a plan to create a perfume in memory of her love evokes in her a new energy.  In search of a suitable fragrance, she becomes acquainted with the charismatic prince Dimitri Romanov. Together with him, she travels to the south of France, the cradle of all the major fragrances, and soon comes on  the trail of a fragrance of love, which has become the most famous perfume in the world, Chanel No. 5. The story of a unique woman and a mistress of outstanding personalities of 20^th century – among others of Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso.

- Sebastian Niedlich:
And God Said: Let there be Jonas

translated from the German original:  Und Gott sprach: Es werde Jonas
published by dotbooks GmbH, 2015, into Czech

Czech translation: A Bůh pravil: budiž Jonáš
Published by Ikar 2018
Hard cover
Pages:
ISBN 978-80-249-3592-8

Sometimes a person has a bad day. Sometimes he/she has a terribly bad day. And sometimes, the fallen tip of the church tower crashes him. That's exactly what happened to Jonah, and that's how the whole story could end up.
But God (the older of us remembering that He is Almighty) has other plans with him - for Jonah is the new Messiah. So he has risen  from the dead. Doctors, media and an ever-growing number of enthusiastic believers are getting inflamed.
And Jonah? He really wants only to have peace.  And by no means he wishes to do miracles! In the end it will all turn out in a completely different way…

- Anna Iris: Travels in Time
in Czech under the title Cesty časem
Publishing House The Gate (Brána) 2018
240 pages
Hard cover
ISBN:978-80-7584-033-2

To be able to travel in time is a gift but it can also be a burden. The main character of this novel knows about it more than anyone else. She is released from the psychiatric hospital and tries to establish new existence in Southampton. She meets Ellie and Steve, two young people who work in the local bookstore named Travels in Time after a novel by a famous writer. Because of her gift  Carrie does not really see Ellie for the first time, but she better keeps this secret to herself. She realizes that Ellie is a former girlfriend of Anthony, the director of the clinic where Carrie was hospitalized. She is able to look into  Elli's past and tries to help her with her psychological problems.  Eventually, Anthony himself, although originally reluctant, accepts Elli in his clinic. But the complicated network of secrets and intrigues is coming up to surface…As time goes by, Carrie feels that this will not go well. What's behind Elli's psychic breakdown? And can Carrie, despite her precious gift, be incorporated into normal life?

This novel is  about friendship and hope, but also mistrust and betrayal ... and about travels in time which  can even show the approaching death.

- Sheila O´Flanagan: The Missing Wife
(Publisher: Headline Review 2016)
translated from English into Czech under the title Pohřešovaná manželka

Czech Publisher: BRÁNA (The Gate) 2017, hard cover, 320 pages

Imogen´s life has been influenced by tragic death of her father before she was born and by too many changes in her childhood. When she marries Vince, it looks like that she has finally found the stability she was looking for so long and that they are happy together. However, things are not always what they seem to be… To be herself again, she has to disappear without saying a word to anybody.  But will she be able to escape her past?
The story takes place in Ireland and France (Provence and Basque Country) with beautiful descriptions of landscapes and surroundings.

- Bob Flaws: Endometriosis, Infertility and Traditional Chinese Medicine (A Guide)
Diagnosis, prevention, diet, exercise and relaxation therapy according to the traditional Chinese medicine

Translated from English into Czech under the title:
Endometrióza a neplodnost – Kniha pro ženy, které touží po miminku

Czech Publisher: Anahita 2016

Although the book is based on American realities,  Bob Flaws is a real expert who combines Chinese and European medicine to address the problem of endometriosis and infertility - a problem that is as hot in the US as in the Czech Republic.

- Bérriedale-Johnson, Michelle: The Everyday Wheat-free and Gluten-free Cookbook
(Publisher Grubstreet 1998)
translated from English into Czech under the Czech title
Vaříme a pečeme bez lepku – Recepty na každý den

Czech Publisher: Brána (The Gate) 2016, 240 pages

The cookbook contains around 200 recipes using special gluten-free flours, breads and pasta now available at the market and has been written not only for  coeliacs but also for other people who are concerned about healthy life style and like to experiment with something new.

- Sandra Jagemann, Eva Christiane Wetterer: DETOX – Easy and Delicious
36 cards with recipes

Translated from German DETOX  – Leicht und köstlich, Königsfurt Urania Verlag 2015 into Czech under title  36x Detox – snadno a lahodně 

Czech Publisher: Synergie 2016

Do you want to remove harmful toxins from your body and experience the flow of energy, joy and health? Would you like to feel fresh again and full of strength?
Detoxification is the ideal way to get into a great form and do something for your health. The 36 simple recipes for smoothies, soups and light meals are easy to prepare.  Additionally, you can take selected cards anywhere with you or give them to your loved ones to help them to improve their health. You can also clean your body by clearing your mind, so on each card you will find, besides recipes, the quotation for the day and useful tips for a healthy lifestyle.

- Concetta Bertoldi: Do Dead People Watch You Shower?
and Other Questions You've Been All but Dying to Ask a Medium
(Publisher: Harper Collins 2007)

Translated from English into Czech under the title: 
Jaké je to v nebi? Vše, co byste chtěli vědět o posmrtném životě.
Czech Publisher Noxi 2015, ISBN: 978-80-8111-262-1)
Summary:
Medium Concetta Bertoldi answers all your questions about life after life
. . . from the irreverent:
(If the dead are always with us, do they have a XXX view of my bedroom?)
. . . to the poignant:
(Will my deceased father be with me when I walk down the aisle on my wedding day?)
. . . to the heartfelt:
(When loved ones leave this life too early or under tragic circumstances, are they eternally heartbroken or can they find peace in heaven?)

Concetta Bertoldi has been communicating with the "Other Side" since childhood. In Do Dead People Watch You Shower?, the first-ever book of its kind, she exposes the naked truth about the fate and happiness of our late loved ones with no-holds-barred honesty and delightfully wry humor, answering questions that range from the practical to the outrageous. In addition she shares with us her own intimate secrets, revealing with refreshing candor how her miraculous gift has affected her life, her marriage, her friendships, and her career, as well as the myriad ways she has used it to help others.

Personal note: I was hesitant if I should take the translation as those who know me must be aware that it is not exactly my cup of tea. However, in the end, translator is not responsible for the contents, my friends said.  And the book has many vivid moments, especially when Concetta tells us the stories of her “real” life on this earth and I was enjoying translating it. 

For sale: http://www.harpercollins.com/9780061351228/do-dead-people-watch-you-shower

- Tony Crabbe: BUSY 
(How to Thrive in a World of Too Much)

Translated from English into Czech under the title:
Proč nikdy nestíhám- Jak najít rovnováhu mezi prací a soukromím
Czech Publisher: Noxi 2015, 352 pages
ISBN: 978-80-8111-240-9
EAN: 9788081112409

Over the past 20 years, all of us who are connected to the Internet have been overwhelmed by the disease of busy-ness. We seem to have less control over professional and social lives and ever more and more consumed by a world of “too much”. This book is the medicine we have been looking for to become healthier, happier and successful human beings. It is packed with great ideas built on cutting-edge research and best practices. Interesting stories and wonderful practical strategies help the reader to be able to truly thrive in today’s busy world.
tonycrabbe.com/busy/

20th Century- old translations

From Portuguese into Czech

1.Manuel Rui: Full Board or No Board
Czech Title:S penzí nebo bez penze.Světová literatura -World Literature magazine-1/82, page 155 – 165
(a short story, Portuguese original  Com ou sem Pensao from a story collection Regresso Adiado – 1973)
Portugal at the beginning of the seventies. Many Angolans are looking for a better future there. However, some Portuguese are economically struggling exactly as the people who came from the Portuguese colonies. The story finishes with a punch line containing subtle note on prejudice and superstition among white population in Portugal. 

2.Manuel Rui: If I Could Become a Wave
Czech Title: Kéž bych se mohl stát vlnou. Světová literatura–World Literature magazine-3/88, 
page 166-188 - (a short story, Portuguese original  Quem me Dera ser Onda)
A short story describing situation in Luanda after declaration of independence 1974. The country is re-inventing itself and has to face many problems, including lack of basic foodstuffs. The idea to fatten a pig on the terrace of a flat results into many comical situations, however, it is also a satire on human behaviour under difficult circumstances - seen with eyes of a young boy.

From German into Czech

Patricia Vandenberg : What's next?
Czech title: Co bude dál?, Evenings Under the Lamp No. 990, Ivo Železný Prague 1994
A love story from the environment of doctors.

From English into Czech 

1.     Robin Cook: Contagion
Czech Title Epidemie, Knižní klub Ikar 1996, repeated editions Euromedia, Prague, ISBN 80-242-1206-4
From the introduction: One of Cook's most successful--and timely—bestsellers. Contagion is a terrifying cautionary tale for the millennium as a deadly epidemic is spread not merely by microbes—but by sabotage...

2.     Johnny ' Two Combs ' Howard:
Direct Action
Czech Title Přímý úder - Slovanský dům Publishing House 2001, ISBN 80-86421-52-X

Synopsis : The most dangerous terrorist of the world, Osama bin Laden, organized terrorist attacks in Jakarta and Lagos. The patience of superpowers is over. The United States and Great Britain decided it was time to perform a direct action against bin Laden. The Supreme Command developed plans for a massive air attack at his secret base in Afghanistan to be carried out by elite units of both countries. Will  the best trained and toughest warriors of the West succeed in their search for the cruel terrorist? Direct Action is a riveting reading – the reality and fiction do not have strict boundaries. As we all know today, the operation Tora Bora in 2001 was not successful. It took another 10 years to complete this mission, Osama was killed by American elite troupes in his house in Abbotabad, Pakistan in 2011. (the translation appeared 2001 after real attempt to destroy Bin Laden finished with disaster - thereby  the book became very much topical and I had to give a couple of interviews to journalists why I decided to translate exactly this book.)

The author Johnny Howard was a member of the elite British SAS (Special Airs Squadrons). In their ranks he participated in many actions in various parts of the world, e.g. he intervened against terrorist forces in Northern Ireland, was deployed in Colombia in the fight against drug cartel and participated in the war in Sierra Leone. Since 1993 he is a career writer of action novels, based on his detailed knowledge of special units.

3.     J. L. Heskett, W.E. Sasser Jr., Ch WL Hart : Service Breakthroughs - Changing the Rules of the Game
 The Free Press, New York, USA
Czech Title - Služby– cesta k úspěchu - Victoria Publishing ISBN 80-85605-36-8,1990

Synopsis: What do Citicorp, UPS and Marriott have in common? They are breakthrough service providers, firms that changed the rules of the game in their respective industries by consistently meeting or exceeding customer needs and expectations. To find out how these companies do it, service management experts put the question to the chief executive officers of fifteen of America´s leading service firms attending a workshop at the Harvard Business School.
The first chapter analyzes the way successful businesses make contact with the customer. The second chapter discusses strategic planning. The third chapter explains how to promote customer loyalty and retention. The quality and efficiency of services are the focus of fifth to seventh chapters. Synergy creation of chains, information technologies and employees is the subject of the chapters nine to twelve. The eleventh and twelfth chapters summarize the ways in which people in major service organizations are motivated. The thirteenth chapter discusses the forces encouraging trend towards "future perfection" and the constraints on the path to achieving it. The final chapter provides an overview of the main themes of the book that compares an excellent pioneering service company with the one which is "only good". The book was recommended as an additional study material for students of services and tourism and as an inspiration for  service providers (hotel directors, managers of service enterprises).

4.     The Way to Success by David Elcome and John Bains, Evropský výbor pro environmentální výchovu a vzdělávání, IUCN Praha 2000.
Czech title: Cesta k úspěchu. O práci s lidmi žijícími v chráněných územích nebo v jejich sousedství při přípravě a realizaci plánů péče o tato území