A castle at the foot of the Carpathian mountains in the 1930s. Two men, inseparable in their youth, meet for the first time in 41 years. They have spent their lives waiting for this moment. Four decades earlier a murky, traumatic event had led to their sudden separation.

Anxious to please his father, Mihaly has joined the family firm in Budapest. Pursued by nostalgia for his bohemian youth, he seeks escape in marriage to Erzsi, not realising that she has chosen him as a means to her own rebellion. On their honeymoon in Italy, Mihaly 'loses' his bride at a provincial station and embarks on a chaotic journey.

Fourteen-year-old Gyuri's father has been called up for labour service. Arriving at the family timber store he witnesses with nonchalance and boredom his father sign over the business to the firm's book-keeper. Two months later he finds himself assigned to a permanent workplace , but within a fortnight he is unexpectedly pulled off a bus.

A busy young writer struggling to cope with domestic chores, hires a housekeeper recommended by a friend. The housekeeper's reputation is one built on dependable efficiency, though she is something of an oddity. This book recounts a strange relationship built up over 20 years between a writer and her housekeeper, Emerence.

It is May 1918, war is sweeping Europe, and a group of boys await graduation in their near-deserted town. Drawn close by an unspoken fear of leaving home to fight, they retreat into a clandestine world of codes, hideaways and fierce invention - until one day a stranger enters their lives and their secret is exposed.

A collection of poems with varying tempos and moods. It shows the folk/blues tradition behind Rhyme , the incantatory pattern of Behind the Motel , the voices from past and present in Letters Censored, Shredded, Returned to Sender or Judged Unfit to Send , and the mysterious negotiations of the title poem.