''Abigail'' ( Hungarian: ''Abigél'') is a 1970

young adult novel Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

by the Hungarian author

Magda Szabó Magda Szabó (5 October 1917 – 19 November 2007) was a Hungarians, Hungarian novelist. Doctor of philology, she also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memoirs, poetry and children's literature. She was a founding member of the , an online dig ...

. ''Abigail'' is an

adventure story Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...

about a teenage girl who attends a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

girls' school in eastern Hungary during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In the Hungarian Big Read in 2005, it was voted the sixth most popular novel in Hungary. It was the third most popular Hungarian novel on the list. The novel has been translated into Catalan, Czech, French, German, Italian, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. An English translation by

Len Rix Len Rix is a Zimbabwe-born translator of Hungarian literature into English, noted for his translations of Antal Szerb's '' Journey by Moonlight'' and ''The Pendragon Legend'' and of Magda Szabó's '' The Door'' and ''Katalin Street''. Early life ...

was published in January 2020. A Hungarian audiobook is read by Ildikó Piros (who played Sister Susanna in a television adaptation of the novel), and an English audiobook is read by Samantha Desz.

Plot summary

The main character of the novel is Georgina "Gina" Vitay, a girl from

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, the daughter of a general, her mother died early, her governess had to leave Hungary by the beginning of the Second World War. In 1943, her father, without an explanation, from one day to the next sends Gina away to the Matula Institute, an old and traditional

girls' boarding school in the fictional Protestant town of Árkod in easternmost Hungary. The closed Puritan world of Matula forces Gina, who is used to individualism and freedom, to give up her former life. The strict rules, the education by

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

es, the busy schedule of the pupils, as well as the pious life in Árkod are far from her previous home. On her second day at school, Gina flies into a rage and reveals one of the secrets of her classmates to the headmaster of the institute, which makes her classmates ostracize her for months. Gina feels lonely and seeks a way to escape to Budapest. Her attempt fails as one of the teachers finds her and takes her back to the school, but her decision makes her father tell her why she must stay in Árkod: General Vitay is the leader of a resistance group within the Hungarian military, and he does not want his enemies to find his daughter. Learning this, Gina shows maturity as she voluntarily accepts her "captivity" and finally reconciles with the others. The school seems to be not so rigorous, as Gina accepts some of Matula's traditions, which until then she found childish. The school's greatest legend has been woven around the statue in the garden, which the girls name Abigail. The mysterious benefactor who helps everyone if they write Abigail a letter appears in Gina's life too. Moreover, he or she not only solves adolescent problems, but takes on serious social responsibilities, such as getting new identity documents for students who have Jewish ancestry. Gina's father does not telephone her for months and she has to stay in the school even at Christmas. Early in spring, her suitor from home, Feri Kuncz, appears in the city and says that he wants to bring her secretly to her father, who he pretends is ill and is waiting for her. The plan fails, but still, Gina has to leave Árkod. The winds of war have arrived at the seemingly impregnable Matula. Helped by Mici Horn, an ex-pupil of Matula and a war widow, Gina escapes from Árkod and gets a new identity. At the end of the novel, Gina finds out that Mr. Kőnig, a teacher whom she hated and looked down on during the school year, is actually Abigail, her greatest helper and the saver of many lives.

Adaptations

A TV series based on the novel was produced in 1978. The novel was also adapted as a musical that premiered in March 2008.

References

{{reflist

External links

The text of the novel in Hungarian
1970 novels 1970 children's books Hungarian children's literature 20th-century Hungarian novels Young adult novels Novels set during World War II Novels set in Hungary Novels set in high schools and secondary schools Novels set in boarding schools Children's books set in Hungary Children's books set in schools Children's books set in the 1940s Children's books set during World War II NYRB Classics