The magnum opus and final novel of the late writer Les Plesko, a
powerful, swirling novel of memory and violence set during the Hungarian
Revolution.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt
following World War II that spread quickly across the destabilizing
country. A new government pledged to re-establish free elections until a
large Soviet force invaded, killing more than 2500 Hungarians and
forcing 200,000 Hungarians to flee the country. Mass arrests and
denunciations continued for months until a new Soviet-installed
government suppressed all opposition. Public discussion of this
revolution was suppressed in Hungary for more than thirty years.
Although the revolution failed, it served as a source of great
inspiration to many Hungarians, and here Les Plesko taps into his
country's history as the dramatic backdrop to his most accomplished and
powerful novel. Sandor and Margit are young lovers suffering with their
nation through the degradations of war, hunger, and political oppression
in Budapest. Into their lives comes the mercurial Erzsebet - ravaged,
war-torn, alluring. Their eventual love triangle upends an already
tenuous existence and threatens what little safety they have found in a
nation on the brink of revolution. When Sandor's activities as an
underground publisher are exposed in a vicious act of betrayal, the
lives of each of our characters will never be the same.
No Stopping Train is a stylistic tour de force and the final work of
Les Plesko.
