St Peter's Umbrella

First published in 1895, this novel is set in the Hungarian highland town of Besztercebanya and the poor mountain parish of Glogova. A red umbrella, left over a child in a storm, is taken by villagers as a gift from St Peter and becomes a local relic. Parallel chapters follow the eccentric bachelor Pal Gregorics, who always carried such an umbrella, and his illegitimate son Gyuri Wibra, a young lawyer who later traces the object, believing it hides an inheritance. Village gossip, family greed, and a courtship in Glogova meet around the relic. The book is a comic village novel, not a saint's legend.

Bound in dark green cloth with gilt spine title and brown decorations. Brown slipcase. Green page tops.