Tamas Dobozy

2012 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize — Winner 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award — Finalist, English-Language Fiction In December of 1944, the Red Army entered Budapest to begin one of the bloodiest sieges of the Second World War. By February, the siege was over, but its effects were to be felt for decades afterward. Siege 13 is a collection of thirteen linked stories about this terrible time in history, both its historical moment, but also later, as a legacy of silence, haunting, and trauma that shadows the survivors. Set in both Budapest before and after the siege, and in the present day – in Canada, the U.S., and parts of Europe – Siege 13 traces the ripple effect of this time on characters directly involved, and on their friends, associates, sons, daughters, grandchildren, and adoptive countries. Written by one of this country’s best and most internationally recognized short story authors – the story "The Restoration of the Villa Where Tibor Kallman Once Lived" won the 2011 O. Henry Prize for short fiction – Siege 13 is an intelligent, emotional, and absorbing cycle of stories about war, family, loyalty, love and redemption.

Stories

Siege 13

Stories exploring a world of ordinary people caught between the pincers of aggressors, leading to actions at once deplorable, perplexing, and heroic. In the fall of 1944, the Red Army encircled Budapest, surrounding tens of thousands of German and Hungarian troops, and nearly a million civilians. The ensuing months witnessed one of the most brutal sieges of World War II, with block-to-block guerilla warfare followed by widespread disease, starvation, and unspeakable atrocities. Richly grounded in this historical trauma and its extended aftermath, the stories in Siege 13 alternate between the siege itself and a contemporary community of Hungarian émigrés who find refuge in the West. Illuminating the horror and absurdity of war with wit and subtlety, Tamas Dobozy explores a world in which right and wrong are not easily distinguished, and a gruesome past manifests itself in perplexing, often comical ways. Winner of the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Praise for Siege 13 “Alice Munro . . . Isaac Babel . . . Those comparisons may sound daunting, but Dobozy has mastered the technical conventions of his craft . . . This vivid rendering of Hungarian history as a nightmare from which no one quite wants to awake is Dobozy’s finest achievement.” —Garth Risk Hallberg, The New York Times Book Review “The sheer variety of Dobozy’s approaches to telling stories, and his commitment not only to provoke thought but to entertain, constitute a virtuoso performance. Siege 13 is without question one of my favorite story collections ever.” —Jeff VanderMeer, The Washington Post “A superb collection of short stories that revisits two of the deadliest months in Hungarian history. The book tells the stories of those who hid, those who fought, those who betrayed, those who escaped and those who died, and how the effects of the siege still linger, three-quarters of a century later. . . . Siege 13 is one of the best books of the year.” —Mark Medley, National Post (Canada)

John King

Zachary Lazar

Adam Peterson

David Macey

Chris Tarry

Michael Thurston

Andrew McKay

Shane McCrae

Meghan O'Rourke

Alex Stein

Jeffrey Yang

Sesshu Foster

Robert Polito

H. L. Hix

James Richardson

Cole Swensen

Tom Sleigh

Judith Skillman

Josh Billings

Jeffery Allen

Sarah Barber

Dan Beachy-Quick

Priscilla Becker

Callista Buchen

Drew Calvert

James Capozzi

Kelly Cherry

Ruth Curry

Weston Cutter

Steve Davenport

Laura Engel

Avital Gad-Cykman

Kathleen Graber

Myronn Hardy

Henry Israeli

Jeanne-Marie Jackson

Yahia Lababidi

Laurie Lamon

Kevin Lutz

John Marvin

Diane Mehta

Kathryn Nuernberger

Fani Papageorgiou

Elahzar Rao

F. Daniel Rzicznek

Craig Teicher

Jacob White

Wyatt Williams

Paul-Victor Winters

Marion Wyce

The Rat's Nest

In the tradition of Aleksandar Hemon's The Question of Bruno and David Bezmozgis's Natasha, a stunning debut collection of short fiction that nails with deadpan irony the dislocations of exile and the disconnects of daily life. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Last Notes : And Other Stories

Tamas Dobozy

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