Abigail by Magda Szabó, for the #1970Club

This is an unusual school story set in Hungary during the Second World War, with an ominous political background. It particularly interested me, not only because of my love of school stories but also because I am a quarter Hungarian and have read very little fiction from that country. I chose it for the 1970 Club, which is hosted this week by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, featuring books published in that year.

Gina Vitay is devastated when her father announces abruptly that he is sending her to boarding school. First, the French governess she has had since childhood is dismissed, then she and her father visit her mother’s grave, and she packs the few items she is allowed to bring to school. Gina is also reluctant to leave Budapest where she often meets a handsome young lieutenant, Feri Kuncz, at her aunt’s home. Based on speculation by her frivolous aunt, Gina guesses wrongly that her father plans to remarry and wants her out of the way. This wounds her deeply as they have been very close since the death of her mother. In fact, General Vitay is working secretly against the Germans and senses he will ultimately be exposed, in which case his enemies would use Gina against him. He has chosen a religious boarding school at the eastern end of the country, in an old monastery built like a fortress, and has told no one where Gina is going.

Bishop Matula Academy is a Protestant school, “the first institution of pedagogic excellence in Hungary to accept full-time female students.” It requires not merely piety and obedience but complete conformity, which is hard for vibrant and outgoing Gina, who is unprepared for the school’s rigidity. This is not Malory Towers or St. Clare’s:

As she pulled on the black ribbed stockings and the tall black boots she thought that would be all. But she was wrong. What came next was, in its own way, even more horrifying than the new outfit. Susanna teased out her long tresses with the new wooden-handled brush that had replaced her old silver-backed one, then chopped them short to match the other girls’ and added a parting down the middle and plaits, tied by the same black shoelace. Gina was now trembling with shock. They have swallowed me whole. I am no longer myself, she thought, and her breathing became a rapid pant. The prefect, knowing what this meant to a young girl, hurried to finish her task. And now they’ve taken even my hair. I have nothing left.

Gina falls out with her classmates right away, and is bullied and given the silent treatment, adding to her misery. Her refuge is Abigail, a statue in the school’s courtyard, to whom the girls confide their troubles. She is not allowed to tell her father how harsh the school is but carries herself with dignity while tormented by her classmates, until an air-raid practice terrifies everyone and causes a rapprochement with Class V. Gina can’t stay out of trouble with the authorities but once she has close friends, her life at school is bearable. Eventually, her father is forced to tell her the real reason he has hidden her at school and this is the final motivation fourteen-year-old Gina needs to mature. She is an excellent student and thrives at school once she puts her mind to it. However, the General’s presentiment of danger was accurate, and Gina needs to trust in Abigail’s supernatural abilities to order to survive.

I loved this book for its vividly drawn characters, particularly headstrong Gina, and the way the background of war comes closer and closer to threaten the otherwise contained school community. It’s also a coming of age story for courageous Gina who tries to develop self-discipline to be a credit to her father, who is facing real enemies. Abigail reminded me of one of my all-time favorites, Masha by Mara Kay (1968), set in early 19th century Russia. Because her father was an officer who died fighting Napoleon, Masha receives a free nine-year education at the Smolni Institute, but never sees her mother again after leaving home. Masha’s hair is also cut short and she is accused by her classmates of being a tattletale. She confides her loneliness to a birch tree in the school’s courtyard. When she tries to share goodies with her classmate, they are contemptuous and refuse to eat them. Eventually, she too toughens up and manages to cope, although she never gains Gina’s self-confidence. I also thought about my grandfather who attended a boys' boarding school in Hungary around 1917.  He did not speak about it much so all we know is that once he received a soccer ball as a gift and organized a midnight soccer game with his friends.  His entire class was graduated early and sent off to fight for the Austro-Hungarian empire as teens.

Szabó taught at a boarding school during WWII and understands the ebbs and tides of schoolgirl friendships (and enmities), the gossip and rivalries. In that sense, it is a traditional school story in which Gina earns the loyalty of friends who will support her when she is in trouble. Highly recommended.

Publication: New York Review Books, paperback, originally published in 1970.
Translator: Len Rix. This edition included a very helpful introduction by Rix.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 20th century Hungary
Source: Library

This is book 24 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024.