Preface
There was a time when this marvellous trilogy could be described as ‘the greatest book that nobody had read’. Written in the 1930s, it was not likely to appeal to a nation at war or under a Communist regime thereafter. So it was unknown to whole generations of Hungarians. Then the Wall came down; the work was translated into English, and it began to attract critical attention in the West. It is now much more widely appreciated, and rightly so. I have read it twice, and its characters and story-lines stay with one for ever. Highly recommended.