The City of Earthly Desire
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After the communists destroy his dreams of becoming a recognized painter, Reinhardt Drixler escapes Hungary and moves to America to further his artistic ambitions and provide a better future for his young family.
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Twenty-five years later, his son, Bela falls in love with Suzy Kiss, an ambitious, alluring Hungarian striptease dancer whose interest in Bela can be summarized in two words: green card.
When Suzy is mysteriously deported, a devastated Bela must make a decision - should he stay in New York and continue with the noble artistic ambitions his father instilled in him, or should he follow his heart to Hungary and explore the enticing and risque opportunities blossoming in Budapest after the collapse of communism?
His decision ultimately plunges him headlong into a world fueled by envy, greed, and lust - a world of self-seeking ambition where only the twin pillars of carnal pleasure and material success are sacrosanct. Will Bela be able reunite with Suzy and maintain his integrity or will he succumb to the temptations of the earthly city?
Set partially in Budapest, Hungary shortly after the collapse of communism, The City of Earthly Desire is a sweeping novel of love and lust, beauty and vulgarity, humor and pathos, and art and ethics. The story is peopled by a memorable cast of characters who are as intense, turbulent, and ambivalent as the place and time they occupy. Like the great novels of the 19th century, the narrative is epic in scope - entertaining and humorous, yet profound.
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