More Was Lost : A Memoir

Eleanor Perenyi; J D McClatchy
New York Review of Books
 9781590179499
1-59017-949-8

Best known for her classic book Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden,Eleanor Pernyi led a worldly life before settling down in Connecticut. More Was Lost is a memoir of her youth abroad, written in the.

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earlydays of World War II, after her return to the United States. In 1937, at the ageof nineteen, Pernyi falls in love witha poor Hungarian baron and in short order acquires both a title and a struggling country estate at the edge of the Carpathians. She throws herself into this life with zeal, learning Hungarian and observing the invisible order ofthe Czech rule, the resentment of the native Ruthenians, and the haughtinessof the dispossessed Hungarians. In the midst of massive political upheaval, Pernyi and her husband remain steadfast in their dedicationto their new life, an alliance that will soon be tested by the war. Withold-fashioned frankness and wit, Pernyi recounts this poignant tale of how muchwas gained and how much more was lost.