{"product_id":"strangers-in-budapest-9781616208646","title":"Strangers in Budapest","description":"\u003ch2\u003eStrangers in Budapest by Jessica Keener\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Jessica Keener has written a gorgeous, lyrical, and sweeping novel about the tangled web of past and present. Suspenseful, perceptive, fast-paced, and ultimately restorative.\" --Susan Henderson, author of \u003ci\u003eUp from the Blue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis atmospheric literary thriller transports readers to Budapest in the 1990s, shortly after the fall of the Communist regime. The city itself becomes a character—a place of beauty and secrets, where the shadows of World War II still linger decades later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnnie and Will, a young American couple, relocate from Boston to Budapest with their infant son, seeking a fresh start. Annie hopes to escape her haunted past, while Will focuses on building their family's future in this enigmatic European capital. Their careful plans for assimilation shatter when friends from the US ask them to check on Edward Weiss, an elderly Jewish American WWII veteran living in Hungary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEdward Weiss came to Hungary with a singular mission: to confront the man he believes seduced, married, and murdered his daughter. This fiercely independent veteran, who once helped liberate Hungarian Jews from a Nazi prison camp, now seeks his own form of justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe novel explores the dangerous territory between helping others and losing yourself. Annie, compelled by her nature to assist those in need, joins Edward's vendetta against Will's warnings. Her involvement pulls her into a deadly conflict that spirals beyond anyone's control, culminating in tragedy and irreversible loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKeener draws on her own experience living in Budapest during the 1990s to create an authentic portrait of the city and its complex history. The narrative weaves together themes of home, displacement, parental bonds, and the persistence of love across generations. The story examines how the past refuses to stay buried and how revenge can consume both the guilty and the innocent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis psychological thriller combines literary depth with page-turning suspense. Bestselling novelist Caroline Leavitt calls it a \"dazzlingly original tale about home, loss, and the persistence of love.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJessica Keener is the author of the bestselling novel \u003ci\u003eNight Swim\u003c\/i\u003e and an award-winning short story collection, \u003ci\u003eWomen in Bed\u003c\/i\u003e. Like the character in her novel, she lived in Budapest in the 1990s; she now lives with her husband in the Boston area, where she is a writing consultant for Grub Street.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Algonquin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50681375916306,"sku":"9781616208646","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_89587090-80f2-41fe-b439-60e286003c83.jpg?v=1733952552","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/strangers-in-budapest-9781616208646","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}