Desiderius was ten and his brother Lorand sixteen when his journal opens on their family circle; it goes on to tell the brothers’ fortunes over many years. Through their mother, grandmother and a right honourable uncle, the atheist Topándy and the girl in his house, a pistol-barrel and a pledged word, the novel follows the brothers into a provincial Hungary of gentry pride, debts and old quarrels.
A novel many Hungarians count among Jókai’s finest, for readers who enjoy Dumas or the great Central European storytellers. Download the free EPUB.