In this stark, haunting collection, Miklós Bánffy narrates with wry wisdom stories of cunning, betrayal and myth ranging from classical antiquity to the Transylvania of his own day. These are communities of sharp rivalries and religious superstition: young Borbálka, about to marry an unsuitable man, receives strange counsel from a suspicious figure in her village; four men seek to exploit the captive Gavrila Lung for money, while mountain wolves howl in the distance; when Old Damaskin betrays his stepson to hold on to his land, his wife extracts bizarre revenge.
Translated into English for the first time by the award-winning Len Rix, this collection further establishes Bánffy as one of the foremost European writers of the twentieth century.
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(@PushkinPress, 29 October 2020, 256 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher via @edelweiss_squad and voluntarily reviewed, translated by Len Rix)
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This is a new author for me. I chose the book at random because I was looking for something a little different. I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the stories in this collection. The writing is powerful and descriptive creating a sense of reading a fable or fairy-tale. The stories are quite dark at times. I enjoyed how they seem to start of quite innocently and gradually get darker and more intense, even violent at times. I really enjoyed these.
