How on earth could the telling of the life and character of an aged Hungarian cleaning lady feel so eerily uncanny?īecause, do not be mistaken, this is not a mystery book. Her three other novels that were in the top 100 are Für Elise, An Old-Fashioned Story, and The Door. Abigél was also chosen as the sixth most popular novel at the Hungarian version of Big Read. Her novel Abigél was popularized through a much-loved television series in 1978. In 2003, she was the winner of the French literary prize Prix Femina Étranger for the best foreign novel. She received several prizes in Hungary, and her works have been published in 42 countries. Her most widely read novel, Abigél ('Abigail', 1970), is an adventure story about a schoolgirl boarding in eastern Hungary during the war.

Her first novel, Freskó ('Fresco'), written in these years was published in 1958 and achieved overwhelming success among readers.

Since her unemployed husband was also stigmatized by the communist regime, she was forced to teach in an elementary school during this period. She was dismissed from the Ministry in the same year.ĭuring the establishment of Stalinist rule from 1949 to 1956, the government did not allow her works to be published. In 1949 she was awarded the Baumgarten Prize, which was-for political reasons-withdrawn from her on the very day it was given. She began her writing career as a poet, publishing her first book Bárány ('Lamb') in 1947, which was followed by Vissza az emberig ('Back to the Human') in 1949. She married the writer and translator Tibor Szobotka in 1947. Between 19 she was working in the Ministry of Religion and Education. She started working as a teacher in a Calvinist all-girl school in Debrecen and Hódmezővásárhely. She also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memories and poetry.īorn in Debrecen, Szabó graduated at the University of Debrecen as a teacher of Latin and of Hungarian. Magda Szabó was a Hungarian writer, arguably Hungary's foremost female novelist.

Az ajto szabo magda