Goodbye to Budapest

A Novel of the Hungarian Uprising

By: Margarita Morris

Narrated by: Samantha Desz

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Family and freedom. It's worth fighting for what really matters.

Budapest, 1952. When Katalin and her father, Márton, are woken by the ringing of the doorbell in the dead of night, it can mean only one thing. The Secret Police have come to arrest him on charges of subversion. But Katalin knows her father is innocent.

In a communist society where ordinary people live in fear of the dreaded Secret Police, suspicion and betrayal are rife. While Márton endures the injustice of being wrongly accused, Katalin must find out who among her friends and acquaintances she can truly trust.

But there is a glimmer of hope in the darkness. The death of Stalin is a spark that ignites a fuse. For the first time it seems that change is possible.

In October 1956, a student-led demonstration soon turns into a bloody battle to overthrow the hated communist regime. Confronted by Soviet tanks, young and old take to the streets, armed with Molotov cocktails, bravery, and cunning.

Katalin and those she loves must fight for freedom. They must fight to survive.

Packed with authentic historical details, Goodbye to Budapest is a panoramic novel of courage, sacrifice, and the indomitable human quest for freedom.

©2019 Margarita Morris (P)2020 Tantor

My Musings

Such an absorbing tale that just about broke me at times. This deals with a topic of history that I am too young to remember and having recently visited the beautiful city of Budapest fascinated me. Glad I found this one in the Audible Plus program. A very happy yet sad reader and listener!

Superbly written, well narrated

If you want to factually and emotionally experience what it was like to live in Hungary before, during and after the 1956 uprising, read this book. It is superbly written, with all the characters, including those with minor roles, so well developed that you feel you know them intimately. Sometimes you dread to go back to reading, knowing bad things are going to happen, but you just can’t let it go, because you are so emotionally invested in their plight. The narrator is excellent as well, with clarity and a right amount of emotion.

captivating

was most enjoyable as it flowed easily from one sentence to the next. could put it down.

The reality of war

The accuracy of the setting made the story feel trustworthy. The bravery and cowardice of both sides was believable.

A timely listen given the war in Ukraine

I grew up in Budapest when it was still behind the Iron Curtain but I was too young to have experienced the revolution of 1956. This book really personalized that era, and should be required listening for anyone who wants to better understand the plight of Ukrainians today. For visual references, I suggest the book “Cry Hungary! Uprising 1956” by Reg Gadney. The narrator’s excellent pronunciation of Hungarian words was really lovely, despite the heart-wrenching content.

I had no idea…

The Hungarian Revolution was a new topic for me. I had no idea about the magnitude of the horror that went down during this time.
This story is so beautifully enlightening. And heartbreaking.

History I knew so little about.

The story seemed authentic and I felt like I learned quite a bit from this story. The She varied her voice for characters and was easy to listen to

Intriguing!

I currently live in Budapest. I loved the authenticity of this book! Hungary has quite the History and has only been truly free for a short while. It’s such a beautiful and historic place. The names of the streets and districts is all so close to me. The descriptions of everything make you really visualize the tragedy.

Interesting concept, quite unsophisticated writing

The story, from several points of view, has a great premise, and the performance is well done, but I had to stop because the author seemed not to have edited her work to remove the redundancies or the explanations of what any reader would gather on their own. Frustrating in its over-description. The last straw after too many bouts of sloppy writing was when the author described the prisoner finishing his meager meal and licking the bowl “with his tongue”. Excuse me, but that’s just bad writing - what else will he lick it with? Edit more please. Probably won’t pursue more of this author. How does this level of writing actually get published?

Can’t finish it.

Just goes on and on about trivial things that I have no interest in. The beginning sins of the father and his daughter were good and his time in the labor camp, but after that, I’m just not really attached to the story.