Critical Praise

"Family history entwines with Hungarian history; we witness the rise and fall of scholars, shopkeepers and intellectuals against a background of economic turmoil, political intrigue and the struggle for independence... Vámos should win a new American audience with his beautifully crafted novel of connection and continuity."

—Kirkus Reviews

"In this sprawling chronicle of the Csillag family, celebrated Hungarian author Vámos depicts the lives of 12 generations of men, each a first-born son, and in the process offers a whimsical 400-year history of his native country... The book has many sublime moments, from meditations on the nature of time to a sly investigation of how words accumulate to form books."

—Publishers Weekly