# What is the best 19th-century Czech novel?

> Village idylls share the shelf with Hussite epics and grim Prague naturalism, written while Czech was fighting its way back as a literary language.

*By YPB Team · Published October 30, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-19th-century-czech-novel*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Grandmother** — score 1000/1000
   Božena Němcová's 1855 Babička, a portrait of village life seen through a beloved grandmother, the most-read Czech classic.
2. **Against All** — score 679/1000
   Jirásek's 1893 Proti všem, an epic of the early Hussite movement and the founding of Tábor.
3. **The Gypsies** — score 678/1000
   Karel Hynek Mácha's Romantic novel Cikáni, written in 1835 and published posthumously in 1857.
4. **F. L. Věk** — score 555/1000
   Jirásek's five-volume chronicle of the Czech National Revival through a Dobruška merchant's life.
5. **Santa Lucia** — score 555/1000
   Vilém Mrštík's 1893 novel of a provincial student destroyed by Prague, a landmark of Czech naturalism.
6. **Psohlavci** — score 0/1000
   Alois Jirásek's 1884 novel of the Chodsko peasants' revolt and their leader Jan Sladký Kozina.
7. **Kaliba's Crime** — score 0/1000
   Rais's 1892 Kalibův zločin, a dark village drama of greed and guilt in the Bohemian foothills.
8. **Jan Maria Plojhar** — score 0/1000
   Julius Zeyer's 1891 novel of a melancholy Czech patriot exiled in Italy, a key work of Czech decadence.
9. **The Cross by the Brook** — score 0/1000
   Karolina Světlá's 1868 Kříž u potoka, a passionate tale of a cursed family set in the Ještěd foothills.
10. **A Village Novel** — score 0/1000
   Světlá's 1867 Vesnický román, a study of loveless marriage and duty in a Czech village.
11. **At the Eaten-Up Shop** — score 0/1000
   Ignát Herrmann's 1890 U snědeného krámu, a tragic tale of a meek Prague shopkeeper.

Tags: books, classics, fiction, 19th century, czech republic