The acts of my mother

Summary: "Thirty years after the fall of communism in Hungary, András Forgách found out that his mother, whom he loved deeply, had been an informant for the Kádár regime and had informed not only on acquaintances, but also on relatives, family friends and even her children. In a work of heartbreaking intensity and nuance, Forgách must confront the truth about the woman who was simultaneously an informant faithful to the party as well as a tender and loveable mother, a victim and a perpetrator, someone to be both pitied and scorned. It pulls back the shroud of secrecy on her complex relationship with her husband, her continuous homesickness and desire to return to her homeland, Palestine, and her devotion to communism and the anti-Zionist feelings that it provoked in her. Forgách dares to give a voice to his deceased mother, hold her responsible for her deeds--and, as her son, defend cherished memories of her as his mother. A work of secrets and lies, the novel sheds light on socialist Hungary in the seventies and eighties; it is simultaneously a vivid description of a claustrophobic era, an evisceration of bureaucratic stupidity, and a heartbreakingly sharp-yet-loving portrait of the author's relationship with his parents."--Provided by the publisher.