Letters to Kafka

A sweeping, tragic romance and feminist adventure about translator and resistance fighter Milena Jesensk’s torrid love affair with Franz Kafka.

In 1919, Milena Jesensk, a clever and spirited twenty-three-year-old, is trapped in an unhappy marriage to literary critic Ernst Pollak. Since Pollak is unable to support the pair in Vienna’s post-war economy, Jesensk must supplement their income by working as a translator. Having previously met her compatriot Franz Kafka in the literary salons of Prague, she writes to him to ask for permission to translate his story ‘The Stoker’ from German to Czech, becoming Kafka’s first translator. The letter launches an intense and increasingly passionate correspondence. Jesensk is captivated by Kafka’s energy, intensity, and burning ambition to write. Kafka is fascinated by Jesensk’s wit, rebellious spirit, and intelligence.

Jesensk and Kafka meet twice for lovers’ trysts, but can such an intense connection endure beyond a fleeting affair? In her remarkable debut novel, Christine Estima weaves little-known facts and fiction into a rich tapestry, powerfully portraying the struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of wife, lover, and intellectual.