MIMI will be re-published in both Hungarian and English in 2005.
The original English version can be ordered at Amazon.com, and at Barnes and Noble, but the quickest way is to e-mail: AHVardy@aol. com or to call: (412) 422-7176. The Hungarian translation of the novel has been sold out.
MIMI is recommended reading for those interested in Hungarian history and culture.
The author, Agnes Husz�r V�rdy, Ph.D, is a former Professor of Literature and Communications at Robert Morris University and presently an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of English at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.
ABOUT THE NOVEL- (A Brief Summary)
MIMI is a thrilling and intriguing story that takes place during a period of six years between 1939 and 1945, detailing the fate of a young Hungarian baroness during World War II. The novel also covers the Hungarian Holocaust and appeals to a wide audience interested in social relationships and historical aspects of that era.
The heroine Mimi is a strong character who rebels against the limitations set by her station in life. She defies the customs of her social class by befriending a young peasant girl and her best friend is Jewish. She goes against her family's wishes by marrying for love and by studying for a career in medicine. Her young husband is called to war and fights on the Russian front. Mimi decides to flee from the crude onslaught of the invading Russian army and leaves Hungary under adverse circumstances. The young couple is finally reunited in Vienna. In order to escape the Russians and the threat of communism, they decide to go farther West to war-ravaged Germany where they must prepare for a new life with their unborn child in a totally alien world.
The novel reveals Hungary's archaic social and class structure and illustrates the political and social conditions that culminated in the post-World War II communist take-over of the country.
MIMI is used in History and Literature courses at Duquesne University and Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, PA. Comments and reaction by readers, young and old, Hungarian and English-speaking have been tremendously positive. Those who lived through the age marvel at the authenticity of the novel, while younger readers like its page-turner quality. Since WWII history in America is taught with little regard for the fate of small nations, students were thrilled to read about the effect WWII had on the lives of the population of such smaller nations as Hungary.
Many readers suggested that MIMI is excellent material for a movie, and in the Spring of 2003 the author's 28 students in a World Literature Course were so enthusiastic about the book that they recommended it to Oprah's Book Club. (As it is often the case, she/her staff failed to respond to the students' request).
Comments and Reviews:
"The thrilling and intriguing fate of Mimi, a young Hungarian baroness, during World War II captures a wider audience interested in social relationships and historical aspects of that era."
Worldwide Representation of Hungarian Authors, Frankfurt Book Fair, Fall 1999.
"Agnes Huszar Vardy has done a masterful job of making Hungary come alive for us... With its fine storyline and well-defined characters, it seems to be a Hungarian Gone with the Wind. Not only is it a literary work of art, but like Gone with the Wind, attempts to bring to mind what was noble and enduring in the Old South. MIMI does this with Hungary."
Ian Heiss, "Local author makes WWII Hungary alive" in The Jewish
Chronicle, Pittsburgh, March 23, 2000.
"Husz�r V�rdy's knowledge of Hungarian history and literature permeates the novel and gives it great color and momentum... MIMI has a strong and detailed storyline with well-defined characters, and with a bold, sweeping vision it encompasses moments of history and a picture of a lost generation of Hungarian gentry, many of whom were forced into unwanted exile by the events of the Second World War."
Lucy Mellows, "MIMI reveals a nest of Hungarian gentlefolk," in The Budapest Sun, Budapest, October 6, 2000.
"The two strongest features of the novel MIMI include the authentic portrait of the era in its historical setting and the vivid characterization of major characters. However, every character in the novel comes alive, and each has a sufficiently exciting story to make the reader want to go on. Particularly successful are the author's descriptions of the last few peaceful years of the age characterized by Admiral Mikl�s Horthy's regency, the euphoria connected with the return of Northern Transylvania to Hungary, the country's unfortunate slide into war on the wrong side of the political fence, the search for an escape from that destructive war, the growth of anti-Semitism, the country's German occupation in the early part of 1944, the resulting cruelty of the Holocaust, the country's occupation by the destructive Red Army, the people's flight from Hungary, and finally the emigrant existence the young couple, Mimi and P�ter have to face in the spring of 1945."
George Stirling, "MIMI as Social History" in STUDI FINNO-UGRICI, 2000. Naples, Italy.
Another novel on the way... A Summer in Italy
Agnes Husz�r V�rdy has recently completed another novel, A Summer in Italy, that takes place in the 1980's.
The novel presents a vivid picture of the lifestyle of the rich and famous Hungarian emigr�'s in Europe, offering a strong contrast to the upper middle-class values that dominate Hungarian-American life in Cleveland, Ohio. It also offers a glimpse into the issue that plagued Hungarian emigrants during the communist domination of their native land.
Through the life of American-born Kathleen M�trai Keller, the novel brilliantly captures the dilemma of growing up in two different cultures, Hungarian and American. The inability to feel totally at home in either environment, the loneliness of being without relatives in America, the deeply-felt isolation of leading a marginal existence within the boundaries of two cultures are the main themes of the novel.
The story is expertly told by novelist, writer, and professor Agnes Husz�r V�rdy whose first-hand experiences of Hungarian emigr� life both in Europe and in America give the novel masterful authenticity. The novel is not only a fast-moving story that captures the imagination; it also presents a glimpse into the customs, values, and activities of an ethnic community within the mainstream of American life.
A Summer in Italy will be published in 2005 and will be soon available to the reading public.