Most compelling for a curious (even nosey) person was being allowed to penetrate this unfamiliar, exotic microcosm: Hungarian provincial society.
When Jill Culiner arrived on the Great Hungarian Plain, she was seeking a trace of the lost Jewish rural community. She discovered a country shaped by early tribal conquerors and foreign domination.
Thirsty for juicy gossip, Culiner offers a droll, often satirical, portrait of small town life in Hungary. Certainly nothing is ever what it seems; there are grim secrets to be uncovered, and history with its pogroms, violence and hatred of ‘the other’ is anything but laudable. But if we are appalled by human behaviour, there is also humour in our contradictions.
Thirsty for juicy gossip, Culiner offers a droll, often satirical, portrait of small town life. Local residents share dreams, romances, and suspicion. Black marketeers, peasants, the Roma, former nobles and party girls, rub shoulders with lapsed communists and elderly members of the Hitler Youth movement. And ever hidden in deep shadow, is the story of the vanished Jews.
Winner of the 2024 Canadian Jewish Literary Award in Biography/Memoir
Shortlisted for the 2024 Page Turner Award