A rediscovered masterwork from famed Hungarian novelist Sándor Márai Portraits of a Marriage
tracks the lifelong entanglement of a man and two women haunted by class differences and
misdirected longings. Peter and Ilonka are a wealthy couple whose outwardly perfect marriage is
undone by secrets. The insecure Ilonka believes she can never be elegant and refined enough for
her husband while Peter has long been tormented by his forbidden love for Judit a peasant and
servant in his childhood home. What Judit longs for most however is freedom from the
constraints of the society that has ensnared all three in a vortex of love and loss. Set
against the backdrop of Hungary between the wars in a world on the verge of dramatic change
this exquisite novel offers further posthumous evidence of Marai's brilliance. Translated from
the Hungarian by George Szirtes
