Abigail

A cult coming-of-age novel by the author of THE DOOR and KATALIN STREET. Magda Szabo's ABIGAIL is the most widely read of all her novels in her native Hungary. Now, fifty years after its original publication, it appears in English for the first time. Gina, the only child of a widowed general, lives a cosseted and carefree existence in Budapest, even in the shadow of the Second World War. When the general sends her to girls' boarding school in Debrecen, in the east of the country, she is devastated. Her belongings are taken away on arrival, and she is initiated into the peculiar rites of her peers. She soon finds herself ostracized and, desperately unhappy, tries to escape. When brought back to the school, all she can do is entrust her fate to the legendary and mysterious Abigail, a statue of a woman in the school grounds, to whom the pupils confide their troubles in handwritten messages. But who is the mystifying figure behind Abigail, who wishes her well? Eventually Gina achieves hard-won solidarity in a restrictive environment, and begins to discover her place in the world. Rich in imagery, and with Gina's internal world beautifully realised, ABIGAIL is a tale of suspense and revelation in a shifting world where things are often not quite as they first seem. Translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix

About the Author :
Magda Szabo was born in Debrecen, eastern Hungary, in 1917, and began her working life as a teacher. From 1949 onwards her work was banned, but she burst onto the literary scene in 1958 with the publication of Fresco and The Dawn. Katalin Street was published in 1969 and Abigail in 1970. In 1987, publication of The Door brought her international recognition and was the winner of the Prix Femina and the Mondello Prize. She died in 2007. In 2016 The Door was chosen as Best Book of the Year by the New York Times.

Review :
Of all Szabo's novels, Abigail deserves the widest readership. It's an adventure story, brilliantly written. - Daily Telegraph Her fiction shows the travails of modern Hungarian history from oblique but sharply illuminating angles . . . Szabo summons the cosy, closed world with a lyrical, quicksilver touch that makes the thuggish intrusions of despotic power all the more wrenching - Economist Abigail demonstrates her enormous range . . . The pleasure of reading Szabo is partly dependent on her intricate plotting. This is especially true of Abigail . . . Szabo operates with the patience of an analyst allowing her characters to delineate the shape of her own woulds, to direct their own healing. - Times Literary Supplement In English for the first time in a superb translation . . . Szabo's characters are vivid and amusingly authentic . . . Szabo is skilful, too, at creating moments of heart-rending tension, often through exquisite, evocative prose . . . the novel has a devastating power - Spectator This infectious coming-of-age novel from Szabo, released in 1970 and translated into English for the first time, is a rollicking delight . . . Szabo pairs the psychological insights reader will recognize from her novel The Door with action more akin to Harry Potter. Gina is one of Szabo's finest creations. - Publisher's Weekly