Irén Elekes

Irén Elekes was born in the mid-1920s. He is about eight years old at the beginning of the novel, and she is in her mid-30s at the end. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elekes, a schoolteacher and a housewife respectively. Irén is a generally composed and responsible person, a foil to her more restless and impulsive younger sister Blanka. At the beginning of the novel, Irén lives on Katalin Street next to the Biró and Held families, and as a young woman, she falls in love with Bálint Biró. Bálint falls in love with her as well, and they become engaged to be married as soon as they are eligible. However, their engagement is interrupted by the arrest of the Helds and by Bálint’s later arrest during the siege of Budapest.

As an adult...