»This book can be read as a wonderful example of genre writing, in the tradition of Oliver Twist and Felix Krull.«

»[...] a novel which is most effective when it dramatizes the routine events of the peasant life in the country villages or the hounded existence of the Budapest workers.«

»The densely packed story is, in genre terms, a racy, filmic cross between a picaresque and Bildungsroman. [...] The writing, as translated by Mark Baczoni, is full of vigour, a product of the author’s own anger, patience, truthfulness and wonder.«

»It can make you want to storm the barricades, red flag in hand, belting out The Internationale. [...] Planned as a trilogy, this first volume is Dickensian in scope and character.«