At an end-of-season London soiree a young Hungarian scholar, Dr Janos Batky, is introduced to the Earl of Gwynedd, a reclusive eccentric who is the subject of strange rumours. Invited to the family seat, Pendragon Castle in North Wales, Batky receives a mysterious phone call warning him not to go. Once there, nothing is quite as it seems. Antal Szerb’s first novel is a gently satirical blend of gothic and romantic genres, crossed with a murder mystery to produce a fast-moving and often hilarious romp. But beneath the surface, Szerb’s steely intelligence poses disturbingly modern questions about the nature of self and reality.
