Family

The novel centers around lives of three families, and one of the most integral aspects of the novel’s premise is an examination of the ways in which these families originally coalesce into one larger family unit. The Elekes family, the Biró family, and the Held family all live in adjacent houses on Katalin Street in Budapest, and at the chronological beginning of the narrative, they are all quite friendly and intimate with one another. For example, as the narration states, “For Henriette, ‘home’ was effectively all three houses” (35). The Held family moves to Katalin Street in the 1930s because Mr. Held and Major Biró became friends during the Great War (World War One), and the three families become intimate due to proximity and shared values. The parents function like parents to all of the children, and the children become as close as siblings. Thus, as...