Family, friends and fans pay last respects to murdered best-selling author Simona Monyová

Family, friends and dozens of fans gathered in Brno on Tuesday for the funeral of Simona Monyová, the Czech Republic’s best-selling author of women’s literature. The prolific writer, who published close to 30 books during her 14-year career, died tragically at the age of 44. She was murdered in her home in early August, with her husband the main suspect.

Photo: CTK

Hundreds of people gathered in Brno cemetery on Tuesday to pay their last respects to Simona Monyová, one of the country’s most beloved authors. Among the attendees were family, close friends and dozens of her fans. The best-selling women’s literature author died under tragic circumstances in early August, when –according to press reports -an argument between her and her husband spiraled out of control. Monyová was stabbed several times and succumbed to her injuries in her home. Her husband is currently in hospital recovering from what the police believe may have been self-inflicted injuries in a suicide attempt. He has been charged with murder and if found guilty could face a prison sentence of up to 18 years.

The brutal killing of the three-time mother, whose novel Mother-in-Law and Smoked Meat was made into a successful TV movie, has shocked the nation and left her family and close friends devastated. Brno photographer and family friend Jeff Kratochvil says he still cannot believe what happened to her.

Simona Monyová, photo: CTK

“Can you imagine that a woman would raise three sons, and at the same time write 29 books? That is a phenomenon that is, even internationally, unheard of. And she managed not only that, but also built two houses, and was able to publish her own novels herself. She was simply an incredible woman. I have always admired her and was glad of every minute that she could spare for me.”

Her husband Boris Inger was charged with murder last Friday. He is suspected of having abused the best-selling author for many years. According to information from close friends, Mrs. Monyová had paid off her husband’s considerable debts, dissolved their joint publishing house and established her own. Friends say that she was trying to leave him and that the severe financial and psychological pressure she was under brought her weight down to nearly 40 kilograms. Following her death, the rights to her novels will not go to her husband, but to her three sons. Currently, her books are flying off the shelves in bookstores across the country and in many places all copies have sold out. Literary critic Miroslav Balaštík praises the quality of her work.

Photo: CTK

“She was an author of women’s literature in the best possible sense of the word. I do not mean this in a pejorative way. She knew what she was doing and who her audience was. Her books, even though we don’t have to look for any literary or stylistic heights and experiments in them, were extraordinary in their psychological dimension. That was her big strength. She was really good at working with the psychology of her characters.”

The author’s brother says he will raise her three children. He is currently trying to secure custody of her youngest son, who is only seven.