Doctor Dumany's Wife

by Mór Jókai

Maurus Jokai (1825-1904) was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. Jókai was an arch-romantic, with an almost Oriental imagination, and humour of the purest, rarest description. If one can imagine a combination, in almost equal parts, of Walter Scott, Willi

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1891

About the author

Mór Jókai, born Móric Jókay de Ásva, outside Hungary also known as Maurus Jokai or Moriz Jokai, was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. He was born in Komárom, the Kingdom of Hungary (today Komárno, Slovakia, southern part remains in Hungary).

Reviews

[Horváth Eszter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Jókai book is always a journey of nostalgy for me and this one was great!

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most underrated novel??!!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly engrossing period novel, set in mid-19th century Hungary. A great deal of the book is essentially background concerning the "American" silver magnate Cornelius Dumany, who (it turns out) is not American at all except for a relatively brief period of his life. The mystery we're presented with from the start (including the book's title) is who his wife is, and why is her relationship with her son seemingly so alien, not motherly in the slightest. Well into the book, Dr. Dumany himself becomes the first-person narrator, and this is where we begin to get into the real meat of the story. But it does take a while to reach that point, and I won't risk spoiling the suspense by revealing any more such specifics. I'll just round out this review by pointing out that the book was written contemporaneously in the 19th century, and Maurus (Mor) Jokai was a native of Hungary and is apparently still the country's most popular author, and thus we can conclude that his descriptions of geography, people and politics are as accurate as we might wish them to be. The translation to English is also very easy to read. For anyone who loves a good historical fiction or is at all interested in Hungarian history, this is another book that I will label as an absolute must-read.

[Kairo Kimende · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cant believe I just read this 1920's book. Now I know one Hungarian writer. Over 20 extraordinary events happen in this story most of which by the way are in a long sub-story within the main story told by one main character to another. My favourite paragraph is where a politician works only a day in parliament and where a shepherd both sells and keeps his sheep. The story has nothing to do with sheep rather but riches, family and politics. I don’t think a modern writer would be allowed to design their story this way. Over all the book is a good and flowing read.

[Nándor Virág · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great potential, decent story, but it didn't spark the joy of a 5 stars book.