Another Love [Paperback]

Erzsebet Galgoczi (Author), Ines Rieder (Author), Felice Newman (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1991

A woman journalist who exposes the hypocrisy of the Soviet-dominated press is found murdered. With a plot that could have been ripped from today’s headlines, Another Love offers “a finely balanced blend of entertainment and political commentary” (Publishers Weekly).
A great novel of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against the Soviets, Another Love is a classic of Eastern European literature.
Lieutenant Marosi of the Hungarian border patrol has found the body of Eva Szalánczky, an old school friend whom he has secretly been in love with for many years. Eva was a lesbian, an outspoken critic of the communist regime, and a journalist whose stories were too hot to publish in the dangerous 1950s. Determined to find out the truth about her death, Marosi requests leave and heads for Budapest.
As Marosi pieces together Eva’s life, Another Love becomes more than a mystery about one woman, but a courageous, compassionate attempt to understand the political mystery of post-War Eastern Europe.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This detective story by Hungarian novelist Galgoczi (who died in 1989) is an effective, finely balanced blend of entertainment and political commentary. Eva Szalanczky, a journalist in her late 20s, is shot and killed in 1959 p. 11 as she attempts an illegal crossing from Hungary to Yugoslavia. When Eva's body is brought in, First Lieutenant Marosi knows her immediately: he loved her back when they were students. Marosi wonders why Eva chose an ultimately fatal course: had she genuinely wanted to defect, Marosi, who's on the border forces, could have gotten her out, or she could have left during the country's 1956 rebellion. Determined to know the truth, Marosi requests leave and heads for Budapest. By talking with her friends and acquaintances there (those who haven't defected or been imprisoned or executed) and uncovering clues in some personal notes, Marosi begins to piece together a fuller, more complex image of Eva: a talented journalist, ally of the downtrodden, uncompromising critic of the government and the Communist Party, a thoroughly charming but equally annoying friend and a woman struggling with her lesbianism.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Hungarian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Cleis Pr (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939416514
• ISBN-13: 978-0939416516
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,078,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why did Eva Szalánczky die?, July 14, 2008

By 

bottle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Love (Paperback)

The story started at the border in September 1959. A woman who attempted the illegal crossing was shot at the spot at a stormy night. Lieutenant Marosi found out he knew the woman, whom he ever truly loved and still do. Why did she want to leave? She could leave the country in 1956 and even later she could get help from someone, e.g. Marosi himself, but she didn't. Why was that? Lit. Marosi read the puzzling message written by her just not long before the attempt. He wanted to find the explanation.

The book has an interesting opening and the blurb. The mystery wasn't about finding the murders but about knowing this woman, Eva Szalánczky. Through the interviews of people who "knew" her, we begin to get to know Eva, as well as Marosi did, who thought he knew her. During his investigation, Marosi noticed that Eva's leave occurred not long after her coworker, Livia, was seriously attacked by Livia's husband ..

This story illustrated the period when Hungary experienced the transition from the old party to the new one, how people struggled to live on. And it's especially difficult for people like Eva. That is probably the main message the writer Galgóczi wanted to convey.

The character Eva was considered to be based on Galgóczi's personal experiences. Ironically, Eva died in 1959, one month before the ban on the Hungarian Writers' Union was lifted, while Galgóczi died in 1989 before the collapse of the Soviet-allied system in Eastern Europe.

This book is not for Happy-ever-after readers. But if you don't mind that and are interested in this historical background, you wouldn't be disappointed.

Another Way is based on this novel, and is also worth watching, though the book is even better.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One big run, May 21, 2001

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Another Love (Paperback)

Lieutenant Marosi of the border patrol recognizes the body of his friend Eva who was shot while trying to cross the border from Hungary to Austria in 1959. In order to understand what drove his friend to her death, he follows the trail of her life, and finds Livia, who's in a hospital after being shot by her husband. He finds out that Eva was strong in her beliefs in a dangerous time, and that Eva was having an affair with Livia. Galgóczi's amazing novel is full of Hungarian politics, as well as character studies of people struggling with low expectations and betrayals. The book is also the basis of the movie "Another Way", but the book is much more clear about Eva's motivations for trying to leave the country.