KRISZTIÁN GRECSÓ: A Masked Ball

Mosaic pieces of a family novel

Two girls are found dead in a village sometime in the 1960s. The third one is still alive when they find her, but by the time the doctor arrives, the wounded girl has already disappeared. Her boyfriend, a young policeman, stumbles across the truth decades later in Budapest after a strange meeting. From this enigmatic detective story the mosaic of a family novel unfolds.

The characters in A Masked Ball set off from the same village, disperse, and meet at certain junctions. The stories are about encounters which reveal forgot ten or
repressed events, forcing people to take off the masks they have donned since their departure.

A Masked Ball is a story that stretches to the current day, about people who live their lives, searching for each other, themselves, or their biological mother. Each chapter of Krisztián Grecsó’s new novel provides a snapshot, as if every story was the life of a different member of the family or a neighbour. Their paths crisscross until the dramatic whole takes shape.

Ordinary people – extraordinary secrets. A family novel where the reader plays detective.

Krisztián Grecsó