The phoenix land

The 1000-year-old kingdom of Hungary, which formed a major part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, was dismembered by the Allies in 1918.

Phoenix-like, the Hungarian people survived the horrors of war, the disappointment of the first socialist republic, the disillusion of the brief but terrifying rule of Bela Kun and the bitterness of seeing their beloved country dismembered by the Treaty of Trianon.

This is the world Miklos Banffy, author of the hugely popular Transylvanian Trilogy (Arcadia), describes in his arresting memoir.