Károly! I haven’t seen you in a week! My mother is in the hospital, Isti is failing his classes, the neighbors saw Mari kissing a boy in the building’s doorway, and you don’t give a shit about anything!
Miklós Vámos
MIKLÓS VÁMOS has published over 40 books, many of them in multiple languages. His latest book is a collection of short stories published by Athenaeum in Budapest in late 2022. The book is titled Visz a vonat in Hungarian, and every story in it is somehow related to trains or train travels. The printed story here in MAYDAY is one of them. Vámos is a recipient of numerous literary awards, including the 2016 Prima Primissima Literary Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Hungary. His most successful book is The Book of Fathers, which has been translated into nearly 30 languages. His ancestors on his father’s side were Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Fortunately, his father—a member of a penitentiary march battalion—survived. Out of the 5,000 Hungarian Jews sent off to their deaths late in World War II, only seven came back. His father was one of them. Vámos was raised in Socialist Hungary unaware he was a Jew. In an effort to save himself from his chaotic heritage, he turned to writing novels.
Love, Mother
Newlyweds by Miklós Vámos
translated from the Hungarian by Ági Bori
Newlyweds Four passengers occupied the narrow, second-class coach of the train bound for Lake Balaton. A young man, a young woman, an old-age pensioner, and a middle-aged goose. They formed two pairs: the dewy-eyed newlyweds were on their way to their honeymoon, while the second pair headed to a wedding. As for the goose, he […]
