Gina Vitay is 14, wealthy, spoiled and an emerging light of the Budapest social set of 1943. She is shocked and bewildered when her beloved father sends her abruptly to a fortress-like Lutheran boarding school in the far east of Hungary, with orders to have no communication with any of her former friends. She struggles to fit in, chafes at the rigid rules, and pines for her home, but she also becomes fascinated by the school legend of Agatha, a classical statue in the garden who fulfills wishes for the girls at their times of greatest need. On the surface a small story, with many features of a young adult coming-of-age novel, Gina's childish point of view provides a fresh glimpse of the war as it was experienced in Hungary. Intelligent melodrama, and very satisfying.
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