Esther's Inheritance

Starred review from August 25, 2008
In this spellbinding fourth novel to be published posthumously in English (after The Rebels
), Márai (1900–1989) weaves a passionate tale about a woman whose chance at love is very nearly stolen from her. Harbored peaceably at her family home in middle age with a cousin as her only companion after a lifelong disappointment in love, Esther receives a telegram from her former flame, Lajos, a masterful con artist who had declared his love for Esther, but then married her younger sister, Vilma. Lajos is locally beloved and reviled, and his dazzling return—with his two grown children by Vilma (who has since died) and a mysterious other woman and her son to whom he is indebted in tow—raises dark suspicions in Esther and her relatives. Márai's characterization of Lajos through the eyes of skeptical, still smitten Esther is deliciously portentous; the deceptions woven around these characters introduce a sharp sliver of danger into the narrative, especially as Esther's reliability is called into question. Márai is a fascinating writer readers of English will want more of.

November 1, 2008
Like two of Márai's other novels published by Knopf, this one concerns a love triangle of sorts. But unlike "Embers" and "Casanova in Bolzano, Esther's Inheritance" is told from a woman's point of view. Esther has loved her late sister's husband for years; Lajos, a known con artist, uses this knowledge to manipulate her into giving him the deed to her house, her only possession and source of sustenance. Nearly everyone is prey to his charm, but Esther's submission is absolute and symbolic. On the surface, the novella tells the intimate story of an unhealthy relationship. But Márai, who considered it his responsibility to portray the disintegration of the Hungarian middle class, makes a much broader statement. While he may not have foretold the impact of capitalism on Hungarian society in the late 20th century, Márai isolates a human characteristic that leads the middle class toward its own destruction: the ease with which it is, sometimes even knowingly, manipulated by pretty words and empty promises. Recommended for readers who have enjoyed translations of Márai's other outstanding novels and memoir.Kurt H. Cumiskey, Duke Univ. Libs., Durham, NC

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2008
Mrai is gaining a reputation among discerning fiction readers as a remarkably effective chronicler of the culture of the old Austro-Hungarian empire. He was born in that hodgepodge of a nation in 1900 and died in the U.S. in 1989. His fame in Hungary in the 1930s preceded persecution by the Communist regime, which led to his flight to the U.S. This latest novel of his to be translated into English follows the appreciatively received Casanova in Bolzano (2004) and The Rebels (2007). Like its predecessors, it is deeply psychological; little happens outwardly, the action generally taking place within the characters minds. The main character, Esther, lives with her old cousin in the rundown family home. She had a great love, the impossible Lajos, who marriedEsthers sister instead, and Esther has since reached the conclusion that Lajos is a compulsive liarbut nonetheless a charming and persuasive one. In a first-person narrative, Esther recalls in vivid and gripping detail the events of the day Lajos came back into her life, and old habits on both sides fall back into place. Pristinely wrought and breathtakingly incisive.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)