The Fifth Dimension

A contemporary classic from the Czech Republic.

To support his family, a man submits himself to a solo science experiment in the High Andes. A cosmic adventure story of big ideas and murder. Your business is dead. It seems like a deal: leave your family behind in Prague for a year, isolate yourself in a research station in the Andes, and come home with a fortune. With a treatise on black holes for company, Jakob settles in at altitude. The air is thin. Strangers pass by on dangerous pilgrimage while his young wife and kids take life in his mind. In mountain starkness, the big questions take shape: like what happens to love inside a black hole?

About the Author

Martin Vopenka was born in Prague in 1963. The son of a famous mathematician, he studied nuclear and physical engineering at Charles University, Prague, but was always intent on being a writer.

The journal Choice wrote of Vopenka's 'deft and compellingly simple control of sentences that is reminiscent of both Kafka and Kundera.' He has written six novels for adults and three for young people, draws on his Jewish culture and seeks inspiration in the mountains (for example, he visited Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, Kirghizia). The themes he explores in his books go beyond the local themes of much Czech literature. He is a member of the Czech PEN Club and chairman of the Association of Czech Publishers. He lives in Prague with his wife Anna and their four children.