Kossuthkifli

Subtitled a patriotic adventure novel, the book lets its reader watch the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848–49 from the window of a racing green stagecoach, a kind of historical mail coach. Freedom and love, war and peace, intrigue and crime, loyalty, greatness and downfall pass by. It is at once a historical novel, a parody of nineteenth-century Hungarian romantic fiction, a road movie, a Hungarian magical realism woven with folk-tale motifs and an old-fashioned adventure story. Now and then the coach stops so the reader can ponder questions of national destiny: how many times can a historical chance be missed, and what do Hungarians do with freedom? It is also a storehouse of nineteenth-century food.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

335 pages in the original

Genres

Historical, War, Satire (assigned by AI)

Set in

Hungary, 1848–1849

First published

2012 by Magvető

Author's age

63 when first published

ISBN

9789631429626 (original)