The Songs We Hide: A Novel

The Songs We Hide: A Novel 

Connie Hampton Connally

Paperback:  Coffeetown Press, 2018

The Songs We Hide is first and foremost a love story. Set in Hungary in the early years following the Second World War, it is also a political indictment of the Soviet Union and its tyrannical treatment of one of its satellite countries. And finally it is also a testament to the transformative power of music, especially in times of suffering.

Peter is a young farmer coming from his village to the city of Pest to find work to help his struggling family after the state seizes their best farmland. Katalin, the daughter of a doctor and a music teacher, had hoped to attend the Music Academy after finishing high school. Her dream of a musical education is dashed when she fails her audition. The two meet when Peter comes to her family’s apartment building one night looking for a place to sleep. Soon after they discover their mutual love of vocal music, Katalin begins giving Peter voice lessons. It’s not long before the state intrudes on their families’ lives in every possible way. Both Katalin and Peter’s families are forced to take strangers into their homes when the state deems that they have room. Neighbors spy and inform on their neighbors. Even inquiring after a loved one’s disappearance is risky. In this poisoned atmosphere, Peter and Katalin slowly begin to fall in love.

The story is beautifully and lyrically written; the sentences so deftly constructed, they seem meant to be savored. The characters are richly portrayed, and the times they live in drawn so believably as to sting with loss and privation and sadness. It’s a stunning feat to pull off, especially when one considers that Connally has no Hungarian background and no ties to this cultural time period. All of this she meticulously researched. Readers will be amazed.