Temptation is a rediscovered masterwork of twentieth-century fiction, a Dickensian tale of a young man coming of age in Budapest between the wars.
In the end, with all the odds still against him, he musters the resolve to set sail for new future..
The atmosphere of Budapest is increasingly poisoned by the appeal of fascism, while Bela grows ever more aware of how power and money keep down the working classes.
Though exhausted by endless work, he is fascinated by the upper-crust world that his new job exposes him to; soon he is embroiled with a rich, damaged, and dangerous woman.
Finally, Bela secures a job in a fancy hotel.
In thrall to his feckless father, Mishka, and living in a crowded tenement, she works her fingers to the bone, while Bela shares a room with a hardworking prostitute.
He does his best to hold his own, and eventually his mother brings him back to live with her in the city.
She starves and bullies him, and keeps him out of school.
Illegitimate and unwanted, Bela is packed off to the country to be looked after by a peasant woman the moment he is born.
Temptation is a rediscovered masterwork of twentieth-century fiction, a Dickensian tale of a young man coming of age in Budapest between the wars
