I hadn’t realised until I started reading that this is aimed at a young adult audience and for a great deal of the book it reminded me of ‘First Term at Malory Towers’ in its minute detail of daily life in a boarding school, though admittedly a rather more strict and religious one, and the camaraderie between pupils. But there any comparison ends. The backdrop of WWII coming to a climax for Hungary in 1943/44 is introduced gradually and the atmosphere of foreboding is well done. The secret she must carry and preserve is almost too much for any teenager to bear, let alone one as impulsive and previously indulged as Gina. Will she be up to it? The final chapters piled on the tension and I found myself gripped, hoping Gina would hang in there and the story would end well. Yes and no, of course, this being wartime.

I’m surprised it has taken 50 years for this to be published in English, it is so much more than a (now unpopular) boarding school tale. I rather wish I’d read it 50 years ago when I would have been the right age for it. The experience, though, has inspired me to look out for Magda Szabo’s adult novels.

WW2 is raging across Europe and has also reached Hungary. Gina Vitay’s father is a general and as such well aware of the dangers that come with Hitler’s advance. He decides to hide his daughter in Matula Institute, a boarding school on the eastern border. Gina is all but used to strict policies as she finds in the closed Puritan world and it does not take too long until she has set the other girls against her. There are rules and there are other rules, breaking the official ones is not a problem, but undermining the secret laws of the girls is punished with exclusion and contempt. It will take Gina a lot of effort to win back the girls’ confidence which she will desperately need since there are dangers looming over her that she is not at all aware of.

Magda Szabó was a Hungarian writer who was forbidden to publish by the Communist Party after being labelled an enemy of the state. “Abigail” is one of her best-known novels which was first published in 1970 and has since then been translated into numerous languages, however, this is the first time it is available in English. In 1993, Szabó was nominated member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and she is one of the most widely translated and read female Hungarian writers.

The novel cleverly interweaves friendship with the events of the Second World War. The notion of a world of black and white does not hold out against reality anymore and telling a friend from an enemy has become a difficult task. The world of the boarding school is walled off from the outside, the approaching war does not play a role, yet, for Gina, she has to fight her own battles within the old walls of the institution. The dynamics of a group of girls enclosed is very well portrayed in the novel, they develop their own set of order and exercise law if necessary. An interesting aspect is the character of “Abigail”, a statue which come to help if addressed by one of the girls. Until the very end, the readers can only speculate who is behind it and supports the girls against the strict direction of the school.

The spirit of the time of its origin can be read in every line, “Abigail” is far from today’s Young Adult or coming-of-age novels. The beautiful language and lovely details of the characters make it an outstanding document of its time and still worth reading fifty years after it has been written.

With a big thank you to Magda Szabó, Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Abigail.

Originally published in 1970 and set in Hungary in the 1940s. This is beautifully written and translated. The character of the protagonist, a teenager is developed superbly. This is artful writing. Highly recommend.