Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2020), Edition: Reprint, 352 pages
Description
"Abigail, the story of a headstrong teenager growing up during World War II, is the most beloved of Magda Szabó's books in her native Hungary. Gina is the only child of a general, a widower who has long been happy to spoil his bright and willful daughter. Gina is devastated when the general tells her that he must go away on a mission and that he will be sending her to boarding school in the country. She is even more aghast at the grim religious institution to which she soon finds herself consigned. She fights with her fellow students, she rebels against her teachers, finds herself completely ostracized, and runs away. Caught and brought back, there is nothing for Gina to do except entrust her fate to the legendary Abigail, as the classical statue of a woman with an urn that stands on the school's grounds has come to be called. If you're in trouble, it's said, leave a message with Abigail and help will be on the way. And for Gina, who is in much deeper trouble than she could possibly suspect, a life-changing adventure is only beginning." --… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
This book turns out to be set in 1943-44, in between Stalingrad and the German occupation of Hungary, i.e. during a period when Hungary was still fighting on the German side against Russia, but when there was a lot of anti-war feeling in the country and the Horthy government were putting out secret
Gina, teenage daughter of a widowed senior army officer, finds herself suddenly whisked off from the cosmopolitan, quasi-adult life she's used to in Budapest to the isolation of a strict, religious boarding-school in a remote provincial town. Needless to say, she isn't happy about being locked up, deprived of her nice clothes and cosmetics, and generally treated like a little girl. She reacts by being as stroppy as she can, only to find that she's added to her troubles by alienating her classmates as well as the school authorities. And her father has important work to do, and needs to be sure that she's safe and hidden away, so it's no good trying to get the school to expel her. Fortunately, the school has a secret-helper-in-residence, who communicates with girls in trouble via a statue — universally known as Abigail — in the garden.
This is all built on the classic children's fiction plot device of children getting involved in an adult story with the best of intentions but with a completely mistaken idea of what the adult story is all about, as used dozens of times (for example) by Erich Kästner. However, unlike a Kästner story, there's nothing particularly funny about the misconception in this case, nor do we have much hope that everything is somehow going to turn out all right in the end. Szabó does give us a vivid picture of how the overconfident and rather unpleasant socialite of the opening chapter turns into a scared little girl, on her own and not knowing whom she can trust, or even which side she is supposed to be on, and finally does learn to accept the right sort of help, but it's all rather uncomfortable — too childish really to work as an adult novel, but without the sort of comfortable protecting framework we look for in a children's story.
Difficult to imagine that this was written by the same person as The door and Katalin Street. But writers have to find ways to sell books as well, I suppose, even in socialist countries...
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feelers to the Allies. So, although it's just a boarding-school story on the surface, it's one with a lot of political undertones. Gina, teenage daughter of a widowed senior army officer, finds herself suddenly whisked off from the cosmopolitan, quasi-adult life she's used to in Budapest to the isolation of a strict, religious boarding-school in a remote provincial town. Needless to say, she isn't happy about being locked up, deprived of her nice clothes and cosmetics, and generally treated like a little girl. She reacts by being as stroppy as she can, only to find that she's added to her troubles by alienating her classmates as well as the school authorities. And her father has important work to do, and needs to be sure that she's safe and hidden away, so it's no good trying to get the school to expel her. Fortunately, the school has a secret-helper-in-residence, who communicates with girls in trouble via a statue — universally known as Abigail — in the garden.
This is all built on the classic children's fiction plot device of children getting involved in an adult story with the best of intentions but with a completely mistaken idea of what the adult story is all about, as used dozens of times (for example) by Erich Kästner. However, unlike a Kästner story, there's nothing particularly funny about the misconception in this case, nor do we have much hope that everything is somehow going to turn out all right in the end. Szabó does give us a vivid picture of how the overconfident and rather unpleasant socialite of the opening chapter turns into a scared little girl, on her own and not knowing whom she can trust, or even which side she is supposed to be on, and finally does learn to accept the right sort of help, but it's all rather uncomfortable — too childish really to work as an adult novel, but without the sort of comfortable protecting framework we look for in a children's story.
Difficult to imagine that this was written by the same person as The door and Katalin Street. But writers have to find ways to sell books as well, I suppose, even in socialist countries...
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LibraryThing member miss.mesmerized
WW2 is raging across Europe and has also reached Hungary. Gina Vitay’s father is a general and as such well aware of the dangers that come with Hitler’s advance. He decides to hide his daughter in Matula Institute, a boarding school on the eastern border. Gina is all but used to strict policies
Magda Szabó was a Hungarian writer who was forbidden to publish by the Communist Party after being labelled an enemy of the state. “Abigail” is one of her best-known novels which was first published in 1970 and has since then been translated into numerous languages, however, this is the first time it is available in English. In 1993, Szabó was nominated member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and she is one of the most widely translated and read female Hungarian writers.
The novel cleverly interweaves friendship with the events of the Second World War. The notion of a world of black and white does not hold out against reality anymore and telling a friend from an enemy has become a difficult task. The world of the boarding school is walled off from the outside, the approaching war does not play a role, yet, for Gina, she has to fight her own battles within the old walls of the institution. The dynamics of a group of girls enclosed is very well portrayed in the novel, they develop their own set of order and exercise law if necessary. An interesting aspect is the character of “Abigail”, a statue which come to help if addressed by one of the girls. Until the very end, the readers can only speculate who is behind it and supports the girls against the strict direction of the school.
The spirit of the time of its origin can be read in every line, “Abigail” is far from today’s Young Adult or coming-of-age novels. The beautiful language and lovely details of the characters make it an outstanding document of its time and still worth reading fifty years after it has been written.
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as she finds in the closed Puritan world and it does not take too long until she has set the other girls against her. There are rules and there are other rules, breaking the official ones is not a problem, but undermining the secret laws of the girls is punished with exclusion and contempt. It will take Gina a lot of effort to win back the girls’ confidence which she will desperately need since there are dangers looming over her that she is not at all aware of.Magda Szabó was a Hungarian writer who was forbidden to publish by the Communist Party after being labelled an enemy of the state. “Abigail” is one of her best-known novels which was first published in 1970 and has since then been translated into numerous languages, however, this is the first time it is available in English. In 1993, Szabó was nominated member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and she is one of the most widely translated and read female Hungarian writers.
The novel cleverly interweaves friendship with the events of the Second World War. The notion of a world of black and white does not hold out against reality anymore and telling a friend from an enemy has become a difficult task. The world of the boarding school is walled off from the outside, the approaching war does not play a role, yet, for Gina, she has to fight her own battles within the old walls of the institution. The dynamics of a group of girls enclosed is very well portrayed in the novel, they develop their own set of order and exercise law if necessary. An interesting aspect is the character of “Abigail”, a statue which come to help if addressed by one of the girls. Until the very end, the readers can only speculate who is behind it and supports the girls against the strict direction of the school.
The spirit of the time of its origin can be read in every line, “Abigail” is far from today’s Young Adult or coming-of-age novels. The beautiful language and lovely details of the characters make it an outstanding document of its time and still worth reading fifty years after it has been written.
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
Gina is the much loved, much spolied daughter of a Hungarian General. As some parent he had denied his fourteen years old daughter little, so why nowdespite her begging and pleading, is he intent on sending her away to school? She is convinced he wants her out of the way so he can remarry. The
She arrives at the school, which appears as more of a fortress, and where everyone dresses and wears their hair the same. Where Psalms and scriptures are read daily, and where everyone gives up their personal possessions. At first she has trouble fitting in, but eventually when the truth is known, she tries harder. Abigail, is the status in the garden, where desperate young girls leave pleas for help.
This is the fourth of Szabos novels to be translated, I have one yet to read. I've loved the ones I have already read. This one unravels at a consistent pace, and is more effective because we are seeing and experiencing it through the lens of a young girl. Innocence, danger, and evil, balanced by friendship, love and sacrifice. I can't wait for more of her novels to be translated as I think she is a wonderful writer.
ARC from Edelweiss
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truth, however, is much more complicated and potentially more dangerous.She arrives at the school, which appears as more of a fortress, and where everyone dresses and wears their hair the same. Where Psalms and scriptures are read daily, and where everyone gives up their personal possessions. At first she has trouble fitting in, but eventually when the truth is known, she tries harder. Abigail, is the status in the garden, where desperate young girls leave pleas for help.
This is the fourth of Szabos novels to be translated, I have one yet to read. I've loved the ones I have already read. This one unravels at a consistent pace, and is more effective because we are seeing and experiencing it through the lens of a young girl. Innocence, danger, and evil, balanced by friendship, love and sacrifice. I can't wait for more of her novels to be translated as I think she is a wonderful writer.
ARC from Edelweiss
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LibraryThing member ozzer
How do you protect your beloved child when you lead a clandestine resistance against a government that is in denial? Today, with 24/7 access for trolls to social networks, there is little one can do. But in 1943 Hungary, it was possible to sequester your child in a remote school. This is what
The Bishop Matula Academy is a former medieval monastery in the remote Hungarian village of Arkod. This is a place more fit for imprisonment than education. To this environment, characterized by strict rules, isolation and pious adherence to religion, the General sends his headstrong and spoiled 14-year-old daughter. Withholding his motivations from Gina, the General thinks this will protect her from reprisals against him as he works to resist the willing downfall of his country to the Nazis. Immediately, Gina tests the system and runs afoul of her peers by revealing one of their most prized secret coping mechanisms. After her father comes clean about why he sent her there, Gina begins to comply and becomes a willing participant with her schoolmates and teachers.
Clearly, Szabo wanted to include a note of mystery to her otherwise mundane story by introducing the legend of Abigail, a garden statue that is a mysterious protector of the students at Matula. Gina quickly becomes aware that the good deeds attributed to Abigail are in fact being done by an unknown benefactor at the school. “Why was I so slow to understand that in this forest of rules and instructions and prohibitions there might be someone, not a mere stone statue but a real person hiding behind it, ready to help anyone with a genuine need?” Although Szabo, holds this person’s identity close for the entire novel, multiple hints make it obvious to any attentive reader.
In ABIGAIL, Szabo’s skill at plotting, building nuanced characters and evoking settings is on display. Also, as in her other novels, she never loses sight of the impact that war has on innocent people who are forced to live with its consequences. Clearly, Szabo is less invested in creating a thriller than she is with the coming-of-age of a girl forced to face the threats that exist in a complex world. Nevertheless, this book is not up to the standard Szabo set in her previously translated novels (“The Door,” “Iza’s Ballad,” “Katalin Street”). Not much happens in this overly drawn out story until the last few pages. Instead, the plot dwells on minutia and the overblown teenage dramas that are so prevalent in young adult fiction. Although her minor characters are vivid, they are easily seen as either heroes or villains. Even the ultimate mystery of Abigail’s identity seems telegraphed. The character of Gina starts out well enough but after she learns of her father’s motives for sending her to Matula, Gina becomes much less nuanced. In the final analysis, this novel seems dated and less suited for literary fiction than as a script for a popular TV special, which it was in Hungary.
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General Vitay decides to do with his daughter, Gina.The Bishop Matula Academy is a former medieval monastery in the remote Hungarian village of Arkod. This is a place more fit for imprisonment than education. To this environment, characterized by strict rules, isolation and pious adherence to religion, the General sends his headstrong and spoiled 14-year-old daughter. Withholding his motivations from Gina, the General thinks this will protect her from reprisals against him as he works to resist the willing downfall of his country to the Nazis. Immediately, Gina tests the system and runs afoul of her peers by revealing one of their most prized secret coping mechanisms. After her father comes clean about why he sent her there, Gina begins to comply and becomes a willing participant with her schoolmates and teachers.
Clearly, Szabo wanted to include a note of mystery to her otherwise mundane story by introducing the legend of Abigail, a garden statue that is a mysterious protector of the students at Matula. Gina quickly becomes aware that the good deeds attributed to Abigail are in fact being done by an unknown benefactor at the school. “Why was I so slow to understand that in this forest of rules and instructions and prohibitions there might be someone, not a mere stone statue but a real person hiding behind it, ready to help anyone with a genuine need?” Although Szabo, holds this person’s identity close for the entire novel, multiple hints make it obvious to any attentive reader.
In ABIGAIL, Szabo’s skill at plotting, building nuanced characters and evoking settings is on display. Also, as in her other novels, she never loses sight of the impact that war has on innocent people who are forced to live with its consequences. Clearly, Szabo is less invested in creating a thriller than she is with the coming-of-age of a girl forced to face the threats that exist in a complex world. Nevertheless, this book is not up to the standard Szabo set in her previously translated novels (“The Door,” “Iza’s Ballad,” “Katalin Street”). Not much happens in this overly drawn out story until the last few pages. Instead, the plot dwells on minutia and the overblown teenage dramas that are so prevalent in young adult fiction. Although her minor characters are vivid, they are easily seen as either heroes or villains. Even the ultimate mystery of Abigail’s identity seems telegraphed. The character of Gina starts out well enough but after she learns of her father’s motives for sending her to Matula, Gina becomes much less nuanced. In the final analysis, this novel seems dated and less suited for literary fiction than as a script for a popular TV special, which it was in Hungary.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Georgina Vitay is unpleasantly surprised when her father announces that she is to be sent to boarding school until the end of the war. As he is a general in the army and her beloved governess has had to return to her native France, it makes a sort of sense, but must she be parted from everything
I found this an enjoyable, engaging story. It reminded me of some of Madeleine L'Engle's young adult novels, particularly with the boarding school setting. For a World War II story, the stakes are relatively low, but there is an element of suspense and danger. The author winds in a thread of mystery as to the identity of "Abigail" (the person behind the statue's mysterious abilities), which was revealed at the end, and which I had guessed fairly easily. There are also touches of romance, all very lightly handled -- most of the book is about the relationships between the girls, and between Gina and her father. Gina's character development is also a major focus, as she is a bit immature and spoiled at the beginning of the novel. The book is beloved in Hungary (in fact, it was recommended to me by a Hungarian friend), though only recently translated into English, and it has a "classic" feel to it. If you enjoy young adult fiction with any of the elements I've mentioned, you should give this a try.
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she knows and sent to the strict Bishop Matula boarding school, far away? When she arrives at the school, the other students tell her of many of the school rules and customs, including appealing to Abigail, a statue in the garden, in times of great trouble. Gina inwardly scoffs at this idea, but she is soon embroiled in troubles of her own, when she thoughtlessly betrays a secret and is ostracized by the other girls. When she appeals to her father to be sent elsewhere, or allowed to return to her home in Budapest, she learns that her troubles are far greater than she had initially suspected.I found this an enjoyable, engaging story. It reminded me of some of Madeleine L'Engle's young adult novels, particularly with the boarding school setting. For a World War II story, the stakes are relatively low, but there is an element of suspense and danger. The author winds in a thread of mystery as to the identity of "Abigail" (the person behind the statue's mysterious abilities), which was revealed at the end, and which I had guessed fairly easily. There are also touches of romance, all very lightly handled -- most of the book is about the relationships between the girls, and between Gina and her father. Gina's character development is also a major focus, as she is a bit immature and spoiled at the beginning of the novel. The book is beloved in Hungary (in fact, it was recommended to me by a Hungarian friend), though only recently translated into English, and it has a "classic" feel to it. If you enjoy young adult fiction with any of the elements I've mentioned, you should give this a try.
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LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
This is a lovely coming of age novel set in World War II Hungary. Gina, the beloved and slightly spoiled daughter of a General is upset when her father abruptly sends her to an authoritarian and religious boarding school far across the country from Budapest. She finds it difficult to make friends
I usually don't read YA, and although this book has sometimes been described as YA, I think it far transcends the genre. It is an engaging and moving story of a young woman coming to womanhood and maturity in very difficult times.
Recommended.
3 stars
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and fit in after her sophisticated life in the city. All the while, the war rumbles on in the background, rarely intruding on the constricted lives of the girls, at least at first. And only over time do we come to understand the General's reasons for sending Gina so far from home.I usually don't read YA, and although this book has sometimes been described as YA, I think it far transcends the genre. It is an engaging and moving story of a young woman coming to womanhood and maturity in very difficult times.
Recommended.
3 stars
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LibraryThing member sparemethecensor
Magda Szabo's Abigail is excellent. I think I may love it even more than The Door. I read the recent translation by Len Rix for NYRB. Highly recommended.
If you've read Elio Vittorini's In Sicily, it's that type of WWII novel but with women coming of age. The war is secret, in a way. People have to
If you've read Elio Vittorini's In Sicily, it's that type of WWII novel but with women coming of age. The war is secret, in a way. People have to
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be very circumspect about how they talk about it. The first quarter or so, Gina doesn't even know why she's going to boarding school. The moment when she learns, her instant coming of age, is rendered so powerfully. The push and pull of female friendship amid the push and pull of government propaganda has never been done better than by Szabo. Show Less
LibraryThing member evatkaplan
FAIRY TAIL, COULD BE VIEWED AS YOUNG ADULT, but not necessarily.very political.
teenage girls in boarding school--their dreams, emotions, ...until she realizes that the outside world does affect them also--when her father tells her why she was sent there.
2nd half, where she learns that she can help
ABIGAIL is a statue, but someone is behind it helping all the students &..when asked.---a protecto
teenage girls in boarding school--their dreams, emotions, ...until she realizes that the outside world does affect them also--when her father tells her why she was sent there.
2nd half, where she learns that she can help
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others and slowly all her misconceptions of the different characters change.ABIGAIL is a statue, but someone is behind it helping all the students &..when asked.---a protecto
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LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
Engaging, if uneven, story of Gina, a privileged teenaged girl consigned without explanation to a rigid, forbidding religious girls' boarding school by her beloved father as World War II rumbles around them in Hungary. Every single aspect of the girls' lives is fiercely controlled, from their hair
Abigail is a statue in the garden, reputed to bring help and comfort to those at the end of their tethers. Secret messages are left and received, dire situations resolved or mitigated. Who is Abigail, really? The silent deaconess Susanna? The flamboyant, brash former student, now a middle-aged widow who throws great parties? The handsome, Teutonic young male teacher all the girls are in love with? No one really wants to know, actually. At this point, the narrative slows to a bit of a slog through more adolescent angst, conflict, school outings and shunnings. Much eating (or refusal) of pastries occurs.
It's only when the war finally insinuates itself into the protective shell of the school that the story picks up power again. A mysterious dissident is posting anti-war messages in public places. Abigail enlists Gina in the passage of life-saving documents. Her father disappears; her old crush - a handsome young soldier - reappears to rescue her, it seems. The reader knows and sees much more than Gina does. (I had the real Abigail pegged the minute the character was introduced, while Gina is hopelessly wrong about it till the end.) This makes it sound more of a "thriller" than it is, but we've come to care for Gina and the other girls; to have some muted sympathy for the straitlaced Susanna; to look a little askance at Mr Handsome Teacher Dude, and wonder exactly where the short-tempered, bombastic director's sympathies may actually lie.
A nicely produced, smoothly translated novel that deserves the wider readership that NYRB brings it.
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braids and underwear, to the content of their consored letters. Gina is utterly miserable. When she impulsively betrays a secret and silly game played by her classmates, they turn on her and her life is even more wretched. Szabo deftly stages the intense, "excitable," changeable, and threatening emotions and alliances in a closed environment seething with adolescent impulses, tears, hysterics, giggles, crushes and cruelty. Anyone who remembers being a teenaged girl will recognize them. Ignore the ill-advised jacket copy regarding J.K. Rowling (Really, NYRB??).Abigail is a statue in the garden, reputed to bring help and comfort to those at the end of their tethers. Secret messages are left and received, dire situations resolved or mitigated. Who is Abigail, really? The silent deaconess Susanna? The flamboyant, brash former student, now a middle-aged widow who throws great parties? The handsome, Teutonic young male teacher all the girls are in love with? No one really wants to know, actually. At this point, the narrative slows to a bit of a slog through more adolescent angst, conflict, school outings and shunnings. Much eating (or refusal) of pastries occurs.
It's only when the war finally insinuates itself into the protective shell of the school that the story picks up power again. A mysterious dissident is posting anti-war messages in public places. Abigail enlists Gina in the passage of life-saving documents. Her father disappears; her old crush - a handsome young soldier - reappears to rescue her, it seems. The reader knows and sees much more than Gina does. (I had the real Abigail pegged the minute the character was introduced, while Gina is hopelessly wrong about it till the end.) This makes it sound more of a "thriller" than it is, but we've come to care for Gina and the other girls; to have some muted sympathy for the straitlaced Susanna; to look a little askance at Mr Handsome Teacher Dude, and wonder exactly where the short-tempered, bombastic director's sympathies may actually lie.
A nicely produced, smoothly translated novel that deserves the wider readership that NYRB brings it.
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LibraryThing member rayski
Gina Vitay is the 14 yr old daughter of a Hungarian General during WWII. The General hides her in a religious boarding school as far as possible from where he is planning a Hungarian resistance. The story though is about Gina's coming of age far too soon because of her father's work. She struggles
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with the authoritarian school, social relationships and eventually being chased by her father's military foes. Through her struggles she receives advice and assistance from other resistance fighters through a message portal run through a garden statue called Abigail. Book is well written, though I wish there could have been an epilog ending that had a future Gina looking back at the school to tell us what happened to some of the important characters in the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
Lovely novel -- great characters, a fascinating setting, and a plot that won't let go. I will read more Szabo.
Awards
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated YA Book Prize (Shortlist — 2021)
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (Longlist — 2020)
Language
Original language
Hungarian
Original publication date
1970
Physical description
352 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
168137403X / 9781681374031