THE ABSENCE OF BEAUTY

"Is someone who wasn’t loved as a child damaged for life? Lále, whose mother abandoned her as a child, goes to great pains even as an adult to make sure she isn’t a burden to anyone. Alone, she seems to have almost achieved it. With her overactive imagination and excessive sensitivity she creates a private world for herself, in which she manages to at least feel at home, if not happy.

When she starts a relationship with Pit - mainly in order to have a child - and moves with him to the provinces near where his parents live, two worlds collide. Hungarian Lále has married into a German family so conventional and petty bourgeois that they instinctively disapprove of this foreign, fairy-like creature, who loves books and speaks Hungarian with her son. Lále tries her best to win their approval, but they have already decided that Pit must separate from Lále and keep custody of their child. Lále only has one option: she has to get away. After making preparations in secret she flees with her son to Berlin to make a new start. But she doesn’t reckon with Pit, who is deeply humiliated by her betrayal, seeking revenge...

A captivating, deeply moving novel - and an impressive literary voice "

"Léda Forgó has created a masterpiece with this novel - a poetic choreography of desire, small shocks and deep truths"" Michael Stavaric"