Three Chestnut Horses

Written in 1940, Three Chestnut Horses is a short novel about love. Told in the first person, the story takes the reader to a Slovak village where the protagonist narrates his vicissitudes, suffering and success - a triumph of pure love.

Peter is in love with a girl, Magdalena, since his childhood. He is adult now and decides to propose to her. He thinks that she still loves him - and he is right. But he is a bit late, because a rich man, Jano Zapotocný, has proposed to her, and her greedy mother promptly accepts. Magdalena respects her mother's wish and gets engaged to Jano. However, she promises Peter that she will not marry and wait for him, but he would have to prove his love first. He has to build a house and be able to earn a living to show her that he really means it. He does so and after almost two years he returns to show her that he kept his promise. But she was forced to marry because her fiance raped her and made her pregnant. Peter is desperate. Although tempted to do something vindictive to Jano, he never gives up his hope in justice and resists - and indeed the writer finds a way to reward Peter's faith in life and morality in the end.