The Fawn

What distinguishes this novel from being a fairy tale is its psychological complexity – Nick Holdstock * Times Literary Supplement *Szabó’s prose is a powerful reminder of just how resonant the relationship between language and memory can be * World Literature Today *Magda Szabó’s fiction shows the travails of modern Hungarian history from oblique but sharply illuminating angles * Economist *One of Hungary’s most important twentieth-century writers * New York Times *Magda Szabó’s work casts an indirect light upon the dimness that exists between our public and private selves, a place wherein our betrayals-both personal and political-flicker uneasily over the walls * LitHub *

Magda Szabo was born in Debrecen, eastern Hungary, in 1917, and began her working life as a teacher. From 1949 onwards her work was banned, but she burst onto the literary scene in 1958 with the publication of Fresco and The Dawn. The Fawn was first published in 1959, Katalin Street in 1969 and Abigail in 1970. In 1987, publication of The Door brought her international recognition and was the winner of the Prix Femina and the Mondello Prize. She died in 2007. In 2016 The Door was chosen as Best Book of the Year by the New York Times.