What is a dead body doing in an exhibition? Where are the migrant workers from Transylvania heading in their minibus? What happened to the woman whose head suddenly fell off in a supermarket? Krisztina Tóth’s stories are snapshots, shards of a mirror reflecting Hungary over the past decades. The lies that ordinary people tell themselves as they are tossed about by life, and their daily struggles to survive. Vulnerable young people and children, the homeless and the poor, the toiling middle class and celebrities weary of life. Banal situations that seem familiar to us all. Although the characters live in different places and their circumstances and desires differ greatly, they have one thing in common: they are facing moments that will turn their fortunes around. Yet almost all of them put off making a decision. The narrator, who appears detached, observes these events with passion and great sensitivity, as if she were reading the world through the lens of her own wounds. She depicts the complex web of interpersonal relationships, and whilst recounting tragic fates and at times grotesque scenes, her sublime and sarcastic humour flashes through unexpectedly.
The book is selection of 40 short stories from Krisztina Toth’s prose written over 25 years till 2017. The book also features stories that have never been published (even in 2026).
