A Hungarian Romance

Drawing on the old Hungarian or romance tradition, Ágnes Hankiss both assimilates its 16 century roots and subverts them with this engaging double narrative of His-story — show trials, rebellions and religious unrest that helped to form the Hungarian national identity — and Her-story — searing private conflicts within a family and a marriage that must burst into the public sphere. The domestic struggle of a woman for identity and independence mirrors and finally overwhelms the national story in this great novel artfully combining lyricism with passion, wonderfully translated into English.