About the book: 1976 / When you look at the portrait of Maria Puymanova, you imagine her appearance, full of amazingly feminine charm - it’s hard to believe that this is the author of one one of the most courageous books of the 20th century. Neither her elegant early stories, nor numerous critical essays, nor psychological stories seemed to foreshadow the epic scope of the trilogy “Men at the Crossroads” (1937), “Playing with Fire” (1948) and “Life Vs. death" (1952). Meanwhile, the trilogy is undoubtedly a unique result of the writer’s life and creative path. Pujmanova’s trilogy not only belongs to the pinnacle achievements of the Czech novel, it has firmly entered the fund of socialist classics. Illustrations by P. Pinkisevich