Author:Péter Nádas,Imre Goldstein
It is 1950s Hungary; a country at the height of Stalinist repression with a populace reduced to silence and deception. An old man flees with his memories of the past in which he believes he can still find redemption, taking with him his grandson, Simon. For him, he invents a fantastic tapestry of stories, a family saga, a fabulous world of myths and legends.
His mother dead and his father condemned by the authorities as a traitor, Simon is sent to an institution where the inmates are sentenced to silence. Liberated by his grandfather's stories, Simon gives dark and passionate testimony to the alienation and treason that surrounds him. Finally he begins to understand how other kinds of family stories will end.
Like Nadas's highly praised A Book of Memories, this is a moving, always unusual novel...it lifts the reader into the sort of deeply imagined personal experience that can only be achieved by good fiction
—— ObserverA hypnotically beautiful novel
—— Daily TelegraphPeter Nadas is unique in that he both fictionalises the storytelling impulse and explores its origins in the consciousness of a child... A magnificent novel... A genuine work of art
—— The Times'A beguiling, romantic story in an illuminating and surprising setting'
—— Joseph HellerThis is Elton at his best - mature, humane, and still a laugh a minute. At least
—— Daily TelegraphOnly Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questions about gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrative and jokes that make you laugh out loud
—— Tony ParsonsA very funny book about a sensitive subject ... Ben Elton the writer might even be funniter than Ben Elton the comic
—— Daily MailThe selections from the greats are generous and well chosen
—— Guardian
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