★ 10/14/2019
This infectious coming-of-age novel from Szabó (1917–2007), released in 1970 and translated into English for the first time, is a rollicking delight. Gina Vitay, the headstrong, spoiled lead, is reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Emma. It is 1943 in Hungary and Gina’s father, a general, sends her to the Matula Institute, a secluded, Calvinist boarding school for girls. Gina is forced to cut her hair, give away her possessions, and conceal her draconian life at school from her father. After Gina reveals to her teachers a strange, secret school tradition and ruins it, her classmates, all wonderfully rendered, ignore her. Gina resolves to escape, but then her father tells her Germany is going to win the war, and Gina can’t return home. In desperation, she turns to Abigail, a mysterious statue that grants students’ wishes. The teachers—handsome Péter Kalmár, sentimental König, good-hearted Susanna—are a strong supporting troupe. Readers will thrill as Gina navigates tangled situations—especially when kidnappers hoping to manipulate Gina’s father into surrendering arrive at the Matula Institute’s door. Szabó pairs the psychological insights reader will recognize from her novel The Door with action more akin to Harry Potter. Gina is one of Szabó‘s finest creations, and this work should continue to enhance her reputation in the U.S. (Jan.)
"The English edition of Abigail is as welcome as it is overdue. Len Rix’s translation is deft, but Szabó’s frank, conversational prose takes a back seat to her sinuous plotting: The novel unspools its secrets over many pages, and the resulting tour de force is taut with suspense. . . . Nothing could ruin a book so humane—but to resolve the novel’s central mysteries, especially the enigma of Abigail’s identity, would be to diminish some of its breathless urgency. To learn the truth, you must consult Abigail herself." —Becca Rothfeld, The New York Times Book Review
“A tense, intimate narrative that brilliantly depicts youthful innocence ensnared by lethal menace . . . Szabó the magician reveals, for an instant, time, history and human folly, all glimpsed through a child’s clear eyes.” —Anna Mundow, The Wall Street Journal
“[I]n Len Rix's superb translation, Abigail is a delightful page-turner. There's an air of enchantment about the school—the book takes its title from a statue that supposedly grants the students' wishes—and Gina begins to have adventures—some quite funny, others that bring tears to your eyes.” —John Powers, NPR’s Fresh Air
“This infectious coming-of-age novel from Szabó, released in 1970 and translated into English for the first time, is a rollicking delight. Gina Vitay, the headstrong, spoiled lead, is reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Emma. . . . Szabó pairs the psychological insights reader will recognize from her novel The Door with action more akin to Harry Potter. Gina is one of Szabó‘s finest creations.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Sequestered at a boarding school during World War II, a rebellious teenager confronts secrets, lies, and danger. . . . Urgent moral questions underlie a captivating mystery." —Kirkus
2019-09-30
Sequestered at a boarding school during World War II, a rebellious teenager confronts secrets, lies, and danger.
Published in Hungary in 1970, and translated into English for the first time by Rix, this intricately plotted novel by Prix Femina Étranger winner Szabó (1917-2007) (Katalin Street, 2017, etc.) complicates a predictable coming-of-age tale by setting it in perilous times: War rages, patriotism incites bitterness and bigotry, and a clandestine resistance movement stealthily arises. When 14-year-old Gina is sent suddenly from her home in Budapest to an elite religious school in the provinces, she feels deeply bereft: of her beloved governess, who was forced to return to her native France; of her aunt's delightful tea dances; of encounters with a handsome lieutenant with whom she is infatuated; and, most of all, of her father, whom she loves so deeply that she "felt the world complete only when they were together." Protected, indulged, and self-absorbed, Gina suffers protracted (and somewhat irritating) adolescent angst. She hates the academy: Once a medieval monastery, it looms like a fortress; girls, dressed in black uniforms, their hair braided unfashionably, are forbidden to bring jewelry, scented soaps, or even toothbrushes from home. Obedience to Christian precepts and school authority is strictly enforced—and, by Gina, repeatedly flouted. She breaks rules, antagonizes her teachers and classmates, and mocks rituals and traditions, including the girls' veneration of a statue they call Abigail, which has the uncanny power to know everything that happens at the school and offer warnings and sage advice. "All my life I have been a wild thing," Gina reflects. "I am impatient and impulsive, and I have never learned to love people who annoy me or try to hurt me." But when her father, visiting unexpectedly, reveals the reason he had to send her away, she vows to behave and realizes that Abigail is watching over her. Far from a supernatural being, Abigail's real identity, Gina believes, is "someone inside these fortress walls who lives a secret life."
Urgent moral questions underlie a captivating mystery.
This popular 1970 Hungarian novel, in English for the first time, is now a superb audiobook narrated by Samantha Desz. She brings a warm enthusiasm and expert Hungarian pronunciation to the story of Gina, a teenager living in Budapest during WWII. Gina’s comfortable life is upended when her father whisks her off to a draconian boarding school in the countryside. Desz narrates Gina’s experiences there with the perfect combination of irony, sorrow, and fear as Gina navigates the strange new world. Desz’s voices for the other girls are full of the insouciance of youth. The war outside their door barely makes an impression—but is coming. Listeners will be carried along by a riveting plot in the hands of an expert storyteller. D.G.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
This popular 1970 Hungarian novel, in English for the first time, is now a superb audiobook narrated by Samantha Desz. She brings a warm enthusiasm and expert Hungarian pronunciation to the story of Gina, a teenager living in Budapest during WWII. Gina’s comfortable life is upended when her father whisks her off to a draconian boarding school in the countryside. Desz narrates Gina’s experiences there with the perfect combination of irony, sorrow, and fear as Gina navigates the strange new world. Desz’s voices for the other girls are full of the insouciance of youth. The war outside their door barely makes an impression—but is coming. Listeners will be carried along by a riveting plot in the hands of an expert storyteller. D.G.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine