This is Banffy’s continuing tale of Transylvanian folk – not the vampires, nor the little furry toy animals, but the aristocratic class of Hungary circa 1900. It picks up a year or so after volume one (They Were Counted, reviewed October 2015) and again concentrates on the lives and loves of the Counts Balint Abady and Laszlo Gyeroffy. More the former than the latter.
Balint is now a member of the Hungarian Parliament. Unaffiliated to any party, he looks on with cool detachment at the machinations of Austro-Hungarian politics. These get a good airing and may have had relevance and satirical impact in its own time and place, but in the here and now are obscure and just have to be ploughed through.
When not politically engaged, Balint remains obsessed with Adrienne Miloth, now married to the half-crazed Pal Uzdy. She reciprocates Balint’s passion, and together they plot, meet, make love, and plan to one day marry. Balint’s mother, the Countess Roza, disapproves, and tension builds between mother and son.
Meanwhile, Laszlo Gyeroffy continues his decline, selling off what remains of the family fortune to finance his drinking and gambling. His friend Balint, his wider family, and the wealthy lady farmer, Sara Bogdan Lazar, all try to save him from himself.
The plot inches forward giving plenty of time to appreciate the lovingly described Transylvanian landscape, and the stately homes set therein. There is a fin de siècle feel to the lifestyle of the aristocracy as the foreshadow of the First World War begins to impinge.
However, nothing
much happens of any note. Perchance it all kicks off in volume three, although
I won’t be picking that up any time soon.
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