The Book Of Fathers
Published on 18. January 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-0-349-11931-1 (ISBN)
Description
In 1705 Kornel Csillag's grandfather happens across a miraculous gold fob-watch gleaming in the mud of an ancient Magyar battlefield, which is to improve dramatically his family's shipwrecked fortunes - for the timepiece bestows an unexpected gift on succeeding generations of male Csillags: the gift of seeing. And each clairvoyant first-born son in turn passes down the Book of Fathers, a battered folio in which the family records its astonishing and revelatory visions and which takes in three hundred years of Csillag history, bearing vivid witness to holocaust and wedding feast alike.
Headlong, exuberant, riotous and packed tight with stories, jokes and tragedy, THE BOOK OF FATHERS is an irresistibly rich Central European feast of a book - parable, folk-tale and epic all rolled into one - that is set to become a European classic.
Headlong, exuberant, riotous and packed tight with stories, jokes and tragedy, THE BOOK OF FATHERS is an irresistibly rich Central European feast of a book - parable, folk-tale and epic all rolled into one - that is set to become a European classic.
Reviews / Votes
** 'A superb family saga that draws the reader effortlessly through nearly three centuries of turbulent history ... The characters are fascinating and Vamos's writing is a magnificent, seamless blend of the general and the personal * THE TIMES * ** 'A warm, humorous, courageous story ... a wonderful reading experience. Highly recommended, especially for lovers of Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude * HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW * ** 'Intricately structured and enigmatically imaginative . . . The book is shot through with ideas about music, nationality, astrology, Judaism, and a troublesome relationship with time. Massive in scale but intimate in tone, the novel oscillates between a kind of ornate folk-tale roughness and a lighter yet more sombre beauty * DAILY TELEGRAPH *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
332 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-11931-1 (9780349119311)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Person
Miklos Vamos is a cosmopolitan Hungarian-American who has taught at Yale University. He divides his time between Hungary and the States.