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Home / Events / Education / ‘The Door’ by Magda Szabo Women in Translation Book Club

‘The Door’ by Magda Szabo Women in Translation Book Club

WIT BC

Event Date: 26 August 2023 02:00 PM to 26 August 2023 04:00 PM

Book: ‘The Door’ by Magda Szabó (published 1987) When: Saturday 26 August 19 2pm Where: Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre (251 Faraday St, Carlton) Find out more: https://substack.com/inbox/post/133128762 RSVP: https://form.jotform.com/231902261452852 Improbably, you lose your heart and head to [The Door], which somehow cuts to the quick of everything that matters and does so in a voice which is, at the same time, materially straightforward and intensely hypnotic. - Financial Times One of Hungary’s most important twentieth-century writers. - New York Times A busy young writer struggling to cope with domestic chores, hires a housekeeper recommended by a friend. The housekeeper's reputation is one built on dependable efficiency, though she is something of an oddity. Stubborn, foul-mouthed and with a flagrant disregard for her employer's opinions she may even be crazy. She allows no-one to set foot inside her house; she masks herself with a veil and is equally guarded about her personal life. And yet Emerence is revered as much as she is feared. As the story progresses her energy and passion to help becomes clear, extinguishing any doubts arising out of her bizarre behaviour. A stylishly told tale which recounts a strange relationship built up over 20 years between a writer and her housekeeper. After an unpromising and caustic start benign feelings develop and ultimately the writer benefits from what becomes an inseparable relationship. Simultaneously we learn Emerence's tragic past which is revealed in snapshots throughout the book.

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