In this extraordinary collection of nine stories, called in the original Czech Painful Tales (Trapne povidky), one of the masters of twentieth century fiction details human situations where the heartbreak and blockedness in life predominate.

In Money a brother is trapped between warring and manipulative sisters; in Helena a mismatched pair come to further grief through misunderstanding; in Three a cuckolded husband’s plan of attack is outplayed by his miserable wife; in The Shirts a thieving housekeeper uses emotional blackmail to gull her employer; in The Insult two brothers at odds come to an awkward understanding through the younger’s crisis in love and work; in The Tribunal a disembodied voice tells dark truths to an uncertain officer trapped in army bureaucracy; in The Bully a wealthy businessman confronts his wife’s lover, bringing on an existential crisis of his own; in Two Fathers a little girl is buried while her stepfather is mocked for his heartbroken love for her; and in At the Castle a young governess is at war with her own emotions, and finds herself trapped, not only in her situation, but also within the expectations of her times.

With fierce spats and grim disunion, desperate reconciliations and exhausted resignations, Capek unravels the black spots in human nature with astonishingly consistent skill, lighting on what makes for trouble with unerring accuracy and occasional delicious satire. This collection was first published in Czech in 1921, and then in English in 1930.