The audiobook The Death of the King of Sumava is based on facts known from the film The King of Sumava by Karel Kachyna
Who was the famous smuggler Kilián Nowotný, nicknamed the King of Šumava? What and when did he make his first million? And how did he manage to escape across the Czech-Bavarian border for years?
A story from contemporary Bohemia by Martin Sichinger, winner of the Book Club Literary Award for his novel The Sugar Clown (2008), brings us back to the old stories of the Šumava border region.
In 1959, the film King of Šumava was based on a script by Rudolf Kalčík, in which members of the SNB border battalion capture and kill Kilián. The film was hugely acclaimed and has been seen by over three million people since its release - despite the fact that Kilian was never caught.
At the end of the summer, twelve-year-old Tomáš goes with his parents to a secluded place near Kvilda. Like his father, he is fascinated by the search for the true fate of the King of the Bohemian Forest, and his journey takes him to the Bavarian town of Röhrnbach to the grave of Kilian Nowotny. It is in Bavaria that Tomáš learns what a mistake the King of Šumava made during his last crossing, why he had to perish on the screens of Czech cinemas and how easily lies are created around us that no one can resist.
