I really enjoyed the historical substance of this novel. I found it in a Jr.High Library book sale. I was a little surprised at the sexual content. Not offensive but nothing I remembered from my Jr. High reading. Interesting in its history of Europe during the two world war periods and very educational (If accurate). I'm very interested in reading more in this series.

If you like a good old-fashioned family chonicle qua historical novel (WW1 to WW2), this is for you. The first volume of three of a trilogy (The Angel of Wrath and the Scarlet Century).

Two prisoners is the story of a newly wed couple in Budapest whose lives are shattered by WWI.

Peter's constant struggle to remain true to Miette and his failure, always being sent further and further away from her, reminded me of my own situation at that time. This made reading the book slightly unpleasant, but it is nevertheless a great story.

This book by Lajos Zilahy is surprisingly not as well known as it should be. It is an epic story in the tradition of the 19th century novel and recounts the story of Count Dukay, born in 1814 and whose life was intertwined with the Hungarian freedom struggle under the leadership of the legendary Kossuth. It gives a Hungarian view of the "century in scarlet"- the mid 19th century era when revolution haunted much of Europe. The novel reminded me of Flaubert's "A Sentimental Education" that gives a view of the same era in France. "Century in Scarlet" deserves the same recognition as Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or Mario Vargas Llosa's "The War of End of the World".