This somewhat forced moral structure is made up for by Ms de Loo's rich evocation of life in the Budapest ghetto and by her ability, in pared-down prose, to convey Kata's and Stefan's own confusions and anxieties.

ECONOMIST: Novels from the Netherlands

The reader learns, for example, that most players in the Budapest Festival Orchestra do not really mind when Ivan Fischer lays down the law, but that the players of the robustly democratic Concertgebouw Orchestra most certainly do.

ECONOMIST: Conjurors

His presence in Budapest made headlines last month, when reporters from the UK's Sun newspaper tracked him down.

BBC: Slovakia charges Hungarian Nazi crimes suspect Csatary