Hungarian Dances [Kindle Edition]

‘Jessica Duchen's debut novel is captivating, imaginative and fascinating. As a musician and a mother, I recognized many of the scenarios and found the questions that were posed very poignant, both from a musical and personal perspective. The pace builds powerfully to a dramatic and ultimately very moving conclusion. Completely gripping!’

 

(Tasmin Little on RITES OF SPRING )

'Adam and Sasha appear to have the perfect life - good jobs, a nice home, money and three perfect children. But as their marriage begins to unravel, their ballet-crazy daughter starts staving herself - and her parents are too preoccupied to notice. A haunting, heartbreaking novel.'

(Closer on RITES OF SPRING )

'A sensitive and thought-provoking novel that will resonate all the more for those with musical leanings.'

(Femke Colborne, MUSO on RITES OF SPRING )

'Duchen skilfully balances the conventions of the genre with the authority of a writer who really knows her subject. ALICIA's GIFT is a wonderful read. But make sure you keep the Kleenex handy when you tackle it.'

(Music Teacher on Alicia's Gift )

'This is a very well written study of the problem of being and having a child prodigy.... it's a gripping read and it's very easy to get caught up in the excitement of wanting Alicia to succeed... I enjoyed this book a lot'

(Muso on Alicia's Gift )

'I suggest you give Hungarian Dances a whirl.'

(South China Morning Post )

'Everything she writes is worth reading'

'A persuasive novelist'

'After having read Rites of Spring, I am now equally thrilled by Hungarian Dances. Jessica Duchen is a very gifted storyteller; her characters are sensitively portrayed. She has observed "Hungarianness" very well indeed. And her understanding of the tragedy and sufferings of the Gypsy people - that is not just history, but very much a problem of our time - gives this book an even more profound meaning'

'The pages of Hungarian Dances just kept turning! Like all the best novels, it asks unexpected and compelling questions. It's a book for anyone with an interest in how history leaves its mark on people and how they in turn come to live with its scars.'

In rooting for her past Karina discovers a network of unsettling displacements and dislocations - of human beings, emotions and musical instruments. Two love affairs, past and present, hurtle towards each other on two time-lines; and, as ever, Duchen shows herself more than adept at handling shifting time-scales, structures and tenses.

This is a far more complex plot than that of her first two novels, and Duchen judges the accelerando and the ritardando of the narrative pace to a nicety. It really is difficult to put the book down....

But it's Duchen's compassionate human observation which carries her through - this, in addition to some obviously diligent research on the Hungarian-Gypsy musical tradition and on Budapest past and present...And everyone will be encouraged to ponder just how far the search to `find oneself' is selfish, unselfish or, impossibly and painfully, in a timeless dislocation somewhere between the two.

'A writer blessed with a beguiling fluency and an entirely believable handling of 21st-century human dilemmas... Highly recommended.'

Like a stuffed palacsinta pancake, Duchen's novel of music and memory bulges with fruity treats. A rail crash in London forces Hungarian-descended violinist Karina, married to a stuffed-shirt lawyer, to rethink her life. Enter the tale of grandma Mimi, also a violinist, and her Gypsy family, as Budapest suffers under the Nazi and Stalinist yokes. Karina, meanwhile, recovers her roots and her rhythms in a saga whose passion for music, Hungary and history sings out on every page.

"I suggest you give Hungarian Dances a whirl"

"A great love story and mystery set in - among other things - the world of Hungarian gypsies and passionate musicians. Duchen has a rare talent which is increasingly being recognised."

Do you ever wish that you could be someone else? Just step out of your life and wake up as someone new? Karina's life was once mapped out for her -- she was meant to follow in the footsteps of her Hungarian grandmother, a world-famous violinist. Instead, she's a teacher, a mum and wife to Julian, a very English husband who's not always in step with her. But when disaster befalls her best friend, Karina feels forced to question the very foundations of her existence. Encouraged by a chance encounter with a like-minded musician, she begins to delve into her grandmother's Gypsy past, and to discover the secrets of her Hungarian family history. Life will never be the same again. Like most people, Karina isn't sure the life she chose was the right one. But she is willing to take drastic steps to change it.

First, huge thanks to everyone who has written to me with such kind and enthusiastic words about this novel!

Of all my books to date, this one is the closest to my heart. Hungary, with its endlessly rich history, culture, music and larger-than-life personalities, became a veritable obsession while I was writing HUNGARIAN DANCES. During this intense voyage of discovery, I made so many new friends and learned so much that this little green volume truly changed my life.

HUNGARIAN DANCES is a family story on a grand scale, spanning some 80 years and interweaving the past and the present. I hope that independent readers and book clubs alike will enjoy the conflict between the generations as well as the closeness of 91-year-old Mimi, and her granddaughter, Karina. I've tried to offer some honest reflections about life as a first-generation Brit - something I know plenty about, being one myself; and, though I didn't want to thump everyone over the head with it, a strong, idealistic anti-racist message hums along in the background to the entire novel.

The stories of Karina and Mimi run side by side as Karina reawakens her own identity by uncovering her grandmother's long-buried secrets. Karina is in her thirties, torn between her love for her family and her need for self-fulfilment, not to mention her passion for another man. Mimi, born into a dynasty of Hungarian Gypsy musicians in 1915, was adopted by a philanthropic doctor, taken away from her Roma family and transformed into a classical virtuoso - but at terrible personal cost. Her tale, and that of the two great loves of her life, ranges from 1920s Budapest to 1940s New York and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

I am immensely grateful to my friend Philippe Graffin, the distinguished French violinist, who has recorded a beautiful CD especially to complement the novel. Also entitled HUNGARIAN DANCES, it features pieces by Brahms, Debussy, Bartók, Dohnányi and others, many of which appear in the story and all of which reflect the confluence experienced by Mimi and Karina of classical music and Gypsy violin-playing. We hope very much that you will find an extra element of enjoyment in reading the book and listening to its music together.

I was so sorry to finish writing this book that I decided to create a website to provide further information about it, Philippe's CD and Hungary. I've included some of the Hungarian recipes that Karina and her family cook, links to useful tourist information sites, some Youtube footage of the 1956 Revolution and much more, and you can sample extracts of the music there too.The book is now available in Hungarian translation (published by Kossuth) and Romanian and Dutch editions will follow in 2009.

All this is a long way of saying that I hope from the bottom of my heart that you will love this book, and its music, as much as I do myself! Thank you.

When disaster befalls her best friend, young English-born mum and teacher Karina feels compelled to question the very foundations of her existence. Her discoveries about her Hungarian family background and her Gypsy ancestry will change her life for ever. In a moving panorama that spans eighty years, past and present collide in the intertwining stories of Karina and her grandmother, famous violinist Mimi Racz. Hungarian Dances is a love story, a mystery and a tale of extraordinary personal transformation.

Jessica Duchen was born in London and grew up with music and writing as twin passions. She writes for the Independent and has interviewed most of today’s greatest musicians. HUNGARIAN DANCES is her third novel. Her other books include biographies of the composers Gabriel Fauré and Erich Wolfgang Korngold and she has written several stage works and short stories. She lives in London with her violinist husband.