Fiction isn’t about finding out what happened. It’s about enjoying how it happens
LITERATURE
by Robert Čoban
The world premiere of Dan Brown’s new novel, The Secret of Secrets, took place on 18 September in Prague — the very city where the story itself unfolds. And Diplomacy & Commerce’s correspondent was there, at the right place and at the right time.
Prague has been Europe’s mystical capital since the Middle Ages
Robert Langdon finds himself in Prague, attending a lecture by his colleague and partner, noetic scientist Katherine Solomon. She presents the results of groundbreaking research offering new insights into the nature of human consciousness. But their work is abruptly interrupted by a series of dramatic events: a murder, Katherine’s disappearance, and the theft of a crucial manuscript. Langdon embarks on a quest that takes him across Prague, London and New York… When the Serbian edition of Dan Brown’s latest novel hits bookstore shelves this December, readers will finally discover how the story ends.
The global launch of The Secret of Secrets, the latest literary work by the celebrated Dan Brown, was held on 18 September in the Czech capital — the very setting of the novel itself. That evening, after arriving in Prague aboard an Air Serbia ATR, we took a walk through the city centre. To borrow from Šerbedžija’s famous song, “drunks were falling outside instead of snow.” In other words, just half an hour before midnight, it seemed that no one in Prague’s centre was sober but us. On one billboard, I noticed an advert reading “Secret of Secrets Tour.” Quick-witted Czechs had wasted no time: they turned the author’s global fame into an opportunity, creating a guided tour of the very locations where the story takes place.
Based on The Secret of Secrets, Netflix will produce eight one-hour episodes
The next day, precisely at noon, we were seated inside the baroque Mirror Chapel within the Klementinum complex, right in the heart of Prague’s Old Town, waiting for the author to appear. The sound of the organ — meant to heighten the drama of the moment — mingled with the murmurs of journalists from around the world. Dan Brown appeared to a long round of applause, as Prague’s mayor, Bohuslav Svoboda, rose from the front row to symbolically present the writer with the “keys to the city.”
During the nearly hour-long press conference, we had the opportunity to ask Dan Brown everything we wanted to know about his new novel, as well as his views on life and the state of the world today. We learned, for instance, that earlier that morning, Czech President Petr Pavel had hosted the famous author for breakfast.
“I didn’t know it was going to be breakfast, so I had a giant omelette at the hotel,” Brown said with a smile. “When I arrived at the Presidential Palace and realised there would be food served, I told myself: please, anything but an omelette! Naturally, that’s exactly what was brought out. And since President Pavel was enjoying his meal so much, I had to join in.”
Brown has visited Prague seven times — the first was as a student with a rucksack on his back, back when the country was still Czechoslovakia. The city, which he describes as “Europe’s mystical capital since the Middle Ages,” had been under consideration for fifteen years as the setting for one of his books. A journalist from Poland asked whether he had considered any other locations besides Prague, and that’s how we discovered that in Krakow, there is a church with a striking blue ceiling adorned with stars of symbolic meaning — a place that, as Brown hinted, might find its way onto the “shortlist” for one of his future novels.
Brown revealed that his fascination with the theme of human consciousness began after his mother passed away from leukaemia eight years ago. “If someone had asked me ten years ago what happens to human consciousness and the experiences we accumulate throughout life after a person’s death, I would have said — they simply disappear. That’s the end. Like switching off a computer,” Brown explained. “However, after my mother’s death and many conversations with experts in this field, I’ve grown increasingly convinced that when the body dies, human consciousness continues to exist in some form.” He added that this view is not rooted in religion — “I don’t consider myself a believer,” he said — but rather in scientific understanding.
I wanted to know what he thought about streaming platforms as venues for film premieres, since The Secret of Secrets will be the first adaptation of his work to debut not in cinemas, but on Netflix. “My previous three books have all been adapted into films,” Brown told us, “and I can assure you — it’s not easy to turn a complex, multi-layered novel into a two-hour movie. Based on The Secret of Secrets, Netflix will produce eight one-hour episodes!” he revealed.
The next question concerned the main antagonist in the new novel — the American intelligence agency, the CIA. Reporters wanted to know whether the agency had tried to stop the book from being published or if it was keeping an eye on him. Brown smiled and replied, “Not that I know of!”
The celebrated author also reflected on the widespread belief that today’s world is “turned upside down” and that humanity is on the verge of catastrophe. “The human race has survived for thousands of years because we possess an innate sense of danger avoidance,” he said. “If you walk into a garden full of beautiful flowers and trees, but there’s a tiger in one corner, everyone will focus on the tiger — because our instinct is to protect ourselves from danger. That’s why I believe that, no matter how bad things may seem, humanity will endure the challenges we face today.”
The journalists present were tactful enough not to ask about the topic that had been filling both Czech and international headlines in recent months. Back in May this year, Dan Brown appeared in Prague with his long-time partner, Dutch equestrian Judith Pietersen (34).
In the past, the author had often stated that The Da Vinci Code might never have been written without the support of his former wife, Blythe, whom he once described as “the most talented woman I have ever met.” That was true until their divorce in 2018, when Blythe went so far as to file a lawsuit, claiming that Brown had led “a life full of lies.” Allegedly, he had four mistresses and had spent shared funds on gifts for them. The women were, according to reports, a personal trainer, a Caribbean politician, a hairdresser, and finally the aforementioned Dutch horse rider, to whom, as the press wrote at the time, Brown had bought a stallion worth 350,000 dollars, as well as a special transport truck for the animal.
No matter how bad things may seem, humanity will endure the challenges we face today
Brown denied all allegations, insisting that his former wife had received half of everything they had earned together and that she had never been deceived. That was the “official version” — until the release of The Secret of Secrets, which opens with the author’s heartfelt acknowledgement of his fiancée, Judith Pietersen.
During his stay in Prague in May, Brown posted a photo on Instagram showing the couple strolling romantically across the Charles Bridge.
After the press conference in the Mirror Chapel, we had just enough time to sit in a garden café beneath Prague’s Astronomical Clock, enjoy a couple of Czech beers and gather our impressions before heading to the Four Seasons Hotel bar, where a “meet & greet” with the author had been organised.
Brankica Đukić, co-owner of Novi Sad–based publishing house Solaris, which publishes Dan Brown’s books in Serbian, presented the author with a framed comic strip drawn by her colleague Saša Radonjić. The gift visibly moved Brown — the strip even featured his beloved dog, Winston. Interestingly, Solaris has been Brown’s publisher since his very first novel, Digital Fortress (1998), long before he achieved global fame. And fortune smiled upon them — they have remained the publisher of one of the world’s best-selling authors of the 21st century.
That evening, a public event with the author took place in the grand hall of the Lucerna Palace, built in 1909. Hundreds of readers, holding tickets in hand, formed two long “snakes” stretching from either side of the palace, patiently waiting for their turn to enter. The host of the evening asked how many had already read the book, how many had just begun, and how many had bought it but hadn’t yet opened it. The raised hands revealed that Dan Brown enjoys a remarkably loyal readership in the Czech Republic.
Those who hadn’t yet finished the book were warned that the discussion would include spoilers, to which Brown responded with a grin: “Fiction isn’t about finding out what happened. It’s about enjoying how it happens. You don’t watch a James Bond film to see whether he’ll stop the villains from destroying the world and end up in bed with the most beautiful woman — you know he will! You watch it to enjoy how he does it.”