Hegre takes us deep into the heart of feminine mystery to uncover Marketa in her many moods, an icon of perfection. It will come as no surprise that Marketa is not a full-time model. At 23, the most captivating age for a woman, she is completing her degree in economics and marketing and remains rooted in Hradec Kralove, the small Czech town of her birth. She is as desirable as a precious object, yet chaste, liberated, and natural. With her all-over tan, even in winter, she is like a mythical creature bursting from a shell, her naked body defining in a sense her own destiny: she is light on her feet, ethereal, impossible to pin down, her fate in her own hands. Marketa radiates the joy of being. She is a jewel. Hegre is a diamond cutter.