Lazar

A powerful and masterful testimony that a gifted young writer is among us. — Patti Smith

A truly great writer steps onto the stage. — Daniel Kehlmann

Everything begins, even the end, when Lajos von Lázár, the nearly transparent child with the water-blue eyes, is born. Baron Sándor von Lázár regards his son with suspicion, for he bears no resemblance to the rest of the family, and soon the child's mother, Mária, develops an ominous knack for evading any truth. With the birth of the heir at the estate in Austria-Hungary, the twentieth century is heralded.

From his secluded existence in the blue room, the uncle, Imre, has long since foreseen with the clarity of madness the catastrophes that await in the new century. First, the Habsburg Empire collapses, then the baron suffers a tragic death. When Lajos takes his father’s place, the old order seems to blossom anew, but the totalitarian regimes of the time cast unexpectedly long shadows.

Lázár is a powerhouse of a family saga about the great upheavals of the twentieth century, a poetic cabinet of curiosities filled with dreams and secrets, tragedy and beauty.