paul may

On his deathbed, Gabi releases Paul from a blood oath they made as children to never tell their terrible secrets about growing up in post-WW2 communist Hungary. Paul's grief for Gabi becomes a grief for his childhood, his family tree and the struggles of his community. Paul's memories emerge with a striking richness of detail and emotion. They are the memories of a child conceived in the aftermath of a racial war, growing up in the midst of a class war tearing apart Hungarian society, ultimately needing to flee with his family to Australia, a foreign land at the other side of the world. It is a personal oral history, a family history and a community history submerged in trauma. But it is much more than a saga about loss and grief. It's about moving from survival to something new, sweet and substantial, through the prism of Paul's childhood innocence. Paul Galy's coming-of age journey is as intoxicating as it is shocking. It is a personable, gripping and astonishing true-life story. Paul captivates the reader, recruiting them to aspire, transcend and soar along with him to new and unanticipated emotional heights