Summary of The Door
Magda Szabó’s novel “The Door” tells the story of the uneasy relationship between Magda, a writer, and her enigmatic housekeeper Emerence, in communist-era Hungary. Over the course of 20 years, the two women warm up to each other and become friends. However, when Emerence falls ill, Magda opens the closed door to Emerence’s house – and feels guilty about it for the rest of her life.
Reasons to read The Door
“The Door” is a simple but touching tale about the unlikely friendship between two very different Hungarian women. The novel beautifully portrays the character of the housekeeper, on whom the writer greatly depends but who always remains secretive about her private and past life. Magda Szabo is the most translated Hungarian author. Other famous novels of her are “Abigail” and “Katalin Street”. She was awarded the prestigious Kossuth Prize in 1978. The latest English translation of “The Door” by Len Rix won the 2006 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize and was published by New York Review Books Classics. The French translation won the 2003 Prix Femina étranger. The novel was adapted into a film by István Szabó in 2012, also titled “The Door”, starring Helen Mirren and Martina Gedeck.
Setting: Budapest, Pasarét (Hungary)
Original title: Az ajtó
Year of publication: 1987
Nr of pages: 288
