1
of
1
I Served The King Of England
Featuring an introduction by Adam Thirlwell
Brief Description
A whirlwind of comic genius and moving poignancy following the rise and fall of one small, outrageous man, from the Czech Republic's master storyteller. 'Our very best writer today' Milan Kundera Ditie is a pint-sized hotel waiter with big dreams. Between pocketing stolen change from unsuspecting...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2800
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
I Served The King Of England
$2800
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Latest News
A Seven Sharp Visit and a Huge Thank You!
It's been a busy last week at Rawiri Place before our big move, with a...
What I Read (and Played) in Bali
I always read more when I travel. There’s the flight over, the hotel breakfast where...
A Puzzle for Every Season: Why I Love Seasonal Puzzles
From spooky Halloween puzzles to floral spring scenes and Christmas favourites we bring out every...
The Book Briefing - September 16th
This week there are so many exciting new book announcements out and about with covers,...
Every crime/thriller Novel Lizzy has read this year (so far!)
Lizzy is sharing her crime and thriller reads for 2026 so far and giving you...
See more
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
A whirlwind of comic genius and moving poignancy following the rise and fall of one small, outrageous man, from the Czech Republic's master storyteller.
'Our very best writer today' Milan Kundera
Ditie is a pint-sized hotel waiter with big dreams. Between pocketing stolen change from unsuspecting customers and reminiscing on nights spent at the local brothel, he fantasises about his immense—and imagined—riches. Then, ludicrously, Ditie's dreams start to become reality.
Yet while his chaotic adventures lead him to ever more glamorous hotels, beyond the sparkling dining halls, the forces of twentieth-century European history march on. A whirlwind of comic genius, a gut-punch of narrative power, this is the story of one small man's rise and fall—or fall and rise—against the shadowy backdrop of Europe's darkest days.
With an introduction by Adam Thirlwell
'An extraordinary and subtly tragicomic novel' New York Times
'Hrabal bounces and floats... with a gusting humour and a hushed tenderness of detail' Julian Barnes
'A joyful, picaresque story, which begins with Baron Munchausen-like adventures and ends in tears and solitude.' James Wood
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529976472
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 16 April 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Paul Wilson
- Introduction by Adam Thirlwell
- Translated by Paul Wilson
- Introduction by Adam Thirlwell
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 19.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 220g
Pages: 288
About the Author
Bohumil Hrabal (Author) Bohumil Hrabal was born in 1914 in Brno-Zidenice, Moravia. He received a degree in Law from Prague's Charles University, and lived in Prague since the late 1940s. In the 1950s he worked as a manual laborer in the Kladno ironworks, from which he drew inspiration for his \"hyper-realist\" texts he was writing at that time. He won international acclaim for such books as I Served the King of England and Too Loud a Solitude. Hrabal is considered, along with Jaroslav Hasek and Karel Capek, as one of the greatest Czech writers of the 20th century, and perhaps the most important in the post-war period. In February 1997 he flew out of his hospital window never to return. Adam Thirlwell (Introducer) Adam Thirlwell was born in London in 1978. The author of three previous novels, his work has been translated into thirty languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has twice been selected by Granta as one of their Best of Young British Novelists.
Also by Bohumil Hrabal
View all-
Closely Watched Trains
90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Closely Watched Trains tells the story of Milos Hrma, a young railroad apprentice coming of age in wartime Czechoslovakia. Milos is overwhelmed with worries—about his virginity, his love for the conductor, and ongoing scandals in the stationmaster's office—besides which the idea of fighting the Germans seems a simple affair. Poignant, humorous,...Paperback$1799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Closely Watched Trains
A classic of postwar literature, a small masterpiece of humour, humanity and heroism from one of the best Czech writers. For gauche young apprentice Milos Hrma, life at the small but strategic railway station in Bohemia in 1945 is full of complex preoccupations. There is the exacting business of dispatching German troop trains to and from the toppling Eastern front;...Paperback$1700Elsewhere:$1799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
All My Cats
A gem of a book about the aggravations and great joys of cats from a literary master. In the autumn of 1965, flush with the unexpected success of his first published books, the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal bought a weekend cottage in Kersko, about an hour's drive east of Prague. From then until his death in 1997, he divided his...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Why I Write?
“Glimmers in anticipation of Hrabal’s later virtuosity.” —New Yorker “A collection of formative fiction from a writer whose work has earned comparison with Joyce and Beckett. . . . Early work from a writer who merits a larger readership.” —Kirkus Reviews This collection of the earliest prose by one of literature’s greatest stylists captures, as scholar Arnault Maréchal put it,...Hardback$3799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Pre-orderDancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age
A trail-blazing, transportive novella that contains all the energy, history and charm of one man's lifetime, this is Bohumil Hrabal's most unique masterpiece. This ebullient, gallivanting novella encapsulates the world vision of the Czech Republic's best-loved author in one tumbling, breathtaking sentence. An ageing man holds court, spinning a single, unbroken stream of stories about his life—loves won and lost,...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order
More from General Fiction
View all-
The Wedding People
'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Yesteryear
A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Theo of Golden
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...Paperback$2899Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Dungeon Crawler Carl
The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman-now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Fourth Wing
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NUMBER ONE GLOBAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON! DON'T MISS OUT ON THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'This book contains an addictive, drug-like essence that will make you relinquish all responsibility until the very last word. Do not say I didn't warn you' Glamour 'I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, and when I finished, I...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New Release
Taipei Story
TAIPEI STORY is the electrifying new novel by bestselling literary phenomenon Rebecca F. Kuang, a profoundly moving coming-of-age story that explores first love, second language and final goodbyes – all set against the backdrop of one unforgettable summer in Taipei. Yale student Lily Chen arrives in Taipei hungry: for family, for culture, for connection. But her summer of discovery quickly...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Iron Flame
The instant number one Sunday Times bestseller and thrilling sequel to the global phenomenon, Fourth Wing! DON'T BE THE LAST TO DISCOVER THE SERIES THAT EVERYONE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT: 'Yarros is the true inheritor of Harry Potter and inspires Hunger Games levels of devotion' Guardian 'Fear not, levels of fighting, rebelliousness and all-round sexiness are still sky-high' Daily Mail...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...Hardback$4699Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
A Court of Thorns and Roses
The first instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON and TikTok sensation, from multi-million selling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan – Time Harry Potter magic, Taylor Swift sass, Fifty Shades-level athleticism – The Sunday Times With bits of Buffy, Game of Thrones and Outlander, this is a glorious series...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Pre-order
Hollywood, Ending
#1 bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story that brilliantly confronts the private cost of a public life. For rising young actors Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve both been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableOut 22 Sep 2026Pre-order -
Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...Set$12400Elsewhere:$15500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Gate of the Feral Gods
The fourth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that's talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess...Hardback$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
General Fiction lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Fiction about Fathers
Here are some incredible stories that explore various angles of fatherhood and father figures in the most poignant and wonderful ways. Featuring...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
What to read now you've watched The Odyssey
Contemporary fiction, classical non-fiction, feminist retellings, and inspired stories that would make for an interesting read now that you're obsessed with The...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Kevin's listGeneral Fiction
The Odyssey & Trojan War Classics (and Retellings)
Long before Christopher Nolan turned it into a blockbuster in the summer of 2026, The Odyssey was the original epic. After a...View the list -
![Tsubaki Stationery Store]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Have You Tried ... Healing Fiction
Healing Fiction is a relatively new genre still finding it's place, and yet people are reaching for it without realizing, desperate for...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Lizzy's Favourite Picks for Winter Reading
These are the books that Lizzy loves to read in Winter, or that feel like Winter. A combination of fiction, some non-fiction,...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listGeneral Fiction
Shirl's Favourite Books of 2026
The first half of 2026 has been packed with brilliant books, making it hard to choose favourites but here are a few...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Books to Escape a Reading Slump
A reading slump can be a frustrating feeling and hard to break out of, but we've gathered together a list of crowd...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![Star Shipped]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Lizzy's Pride Fiction Picks!
June marks Global Pride Month so in case you're looking for your next great fiction read, here's a list of some of...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Readers’ Top 100 Novels of All Time - from The Guardian
There was some controversy when The Guardian released their critics and authors list of the top 100 novels of all time, but...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Seasonal Reads - 10 Books for Autumn
If you haven't tried seasonal reading, Lizzy thinks you should. It's a way to romanticizing the current season rather than trying to...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hannah's listGeneral Fiction
Gothic Reads for Dark Nights
With the advent of movie adaptations like Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, it looks like pop culture is seeing a revival of the...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
General Fiction
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Winners
Celebrate all the winners of the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Explore the powerful fiction of Ingrid Horrocks' 'All Her Lives',...View the list
