The Door

The Door is a fictionalized autobiography of a female writer’s 20-year relationship with her housekeeper (Emerence), set in postwar Communist Hungary. Magda Szabo’s writing is sometimes too verbose, but her story is intimate and intense, with a vivid character in the form of Emerence. “I know now, what I didn’t then, that affection can’t always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else.” Recommended for fans of Elena Ferrante.