Written in Hungarian. 259 pages. Original title: "Zenga zének." First published in 1983 by Szépirodalmi Publishing House, 1983. It is the tenth book by this author.

Outline:

This is the story of one year in the life of the country of Hungary. One protagonist is a six-year-old boy; the other is history. His name is Sonny: he is a puny child, too serious for his age. He often rebuked by grown-ups who are disturbed by the endless stream of his premature wisdom.

The story begins on October of 1955. When we become acquainted with Sonny in the small, dark and gloomy room which is Sister Angelica's apartment. She is teaching him religion. Sister Angelica had been a nun until 1948, when the monasteries and convents were secularized by the state. Since that time she has earned her living as a cleaner. In Hungary no kind of religious education was allowed this time. Sister Angelica worked as a Bible teacher only occasionally and secretly. Had she been reported, she'd have been imprisoned for years.

Sonny's father had worked at the Ministry of Interior until the arrest of Lásszló Rajk in 1949. Then Sonny's father was fired. He was lucky, a lot of his colleagues were imprisoned. Even they were luckier than Laszló Rajk, the Minister of the Interior, who, along with three other high leader of the country, was executed for espionnage. The charges and the evidences were equally false-Rajk became the communist Dreyfus of Hungary. Sonny's father worked as a lathe operator at a factory after his dismissal.

Sonny can't understand all of this. He wouldn't have understood it if the grown-ups had told him the story, either; but they didn't. In the Hungary of the fifties adults are afraid of speaking openly to each other even between four friendly walls; it's too dangerous to run the risk of being reported. That's why nobody talked about anything important to their kids or in the presence of them. Children had to be satisfied with a few carelessly dropped words-and with their own fantasies. Sonny has a more vivid imagination than his contemporaries and a stronger desire for understanding as well.

He can't understand his mother's order that his visits to Sister Angelica are to be kept top secret. Why is he not allowed to tell his classmates? He wonders whether the other boys have to go to such lessons, and if they do, to whom? Besides, why isn't he allowed to mention to Sister Angelica of his father's previous employment?

To top it all off, his mother's father and brother had owned a cabinet-making shop till 1948, when all shops, factories and banks were nationalized. Since that time they have worked illegally in the cellar of the house where the whole family have been living; this is Sonny's most pressing secret.

Sonny had just become an advanced Catholic when he got ill. His tonsils had to be taken out. In the hospital he underwent some awful experiences, and he learned a lot about life and death. Witnessing the death of a nice boy whom he felt was his best friend, he came to understand that Sister Angelica's teaching had not always been true. He starts suspecting that Jesus Christ was only a fairy tale figure like Donald Duck.

After his recovery he stubbornly refuses to return to Sister Angelica. Instead, in the elementary school he applies for the "Atheistic Study Circle". It's actually a very simplified Marxixt-Leninist course for children, headed by an enthusiastic but not too clever teacher.

The Bible gets mixed step by step with the Communist Manifesto in Sonny's brain. He has a frequent dream. The annual military parade of Budapest is watched by Jesus Christ and Stalin from the pedestal of the latter's statue. Both are waving merrily, Jesus is wearing Stalin's peaked cap, and the dictator is wearing God's halo.

The chaos in Sonny's head culminates when he is called "Jew" at school. He is sure he isn't a Jew and denies it. He is complaining of this to his father and is completely shocked to hear that he-unfortunately?-actually is a Jew. Why didn't anybody tell him? Why did they send a Jew to the Catholic Sister Angelica? And how could the obscure story told by his father about his parents (that is Sonny's grandparents) be true: that they were supposedly gassed in some place called Auschwitz?

Everything is confusing, meaningless and incredible. Family problems make Sonny's life hard, too; his parents' relationship comes to a crisis.

The October riot of 1956 breaks out, there are disturbances in the streets, and Stalin's enormous statue of bronze is demolished before Sonny's watchful eyes. It's a very frightening spectacle for him, and he can't sleep for days afterwards. The grown-ups are lying or keeping silent again as usual. Sonny would like to be informed about what's happening. For instance, why is the family afraid that his father will be takne away by the insurgents? Sonny suspects that the problem somehow stems from his father's former employment at the Ministry, but that's all he knows.

What's the use of asking questions if they are never answered? The guns of freedomfighters and Russian soldiers are shooting in the streets, the frightening noises make the walls tremble. Sonny is afraid. During the wildest battle's nigt he starts stuttering. "Wha-wha-wha-t's ha-happ-ppening?" he keeps repeating. "I don't know either," his father says. Sonny's retort: "The-then how cou-could I know?!"

The greatest part of the 309-page novel's text describes Sonny's thoughts in a style that imitates children's speech and brings amusement into even the saddest scenes.