Alakváltók

The novel goes back to the 1950s, when Gheorghiu-Dej, called the Romanian Stalin, ruled the country, and on into the first decade of Ceaușescu's dictatorship, with the 1989 revolution as its frame. In 1954 a year of drought has made people do evil things. Two men, Sólyom and Szarvas, have escaped, got hold of weapons, looted and killed; trusting no one any longer, they raise money, obtain false passports and set off for Yugoslavia. On the day they leave, Sólyom spends the night in Csíkszereda with a woman living in the house of the Liebs, a Jewish family who were no longer there. The intertwined strands ask whether real renewal is possible after four decades of dictatorship, when the old communist elite returned to power after the bloody days in Bucharest, or whether people merely take on new shapes as power changes hands.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

264 pages in the original

Genres

Historical, Politics, Crime (assigned by AI)

Set in

Romania, 1950s–1989

First published

2016 by Jelenkor

Author's age

35 when first published

ISBN

9789633105948 (original)