Serene Beauty

The Songs We Hide by Connie Hampton Connally is a powerful, heart wrenching historical novel that I read mainly in one sitting.

The novel is set in Hungary in 1951. It is a time of great heartache and difficulty. Communism, under Stalin, had taken over the country following the second World War.

Farming is now organized into collectives. Those who did not join were heavily penalized. There was much cruelty. Just as in Ukraine during the 1920’s, people are killed, persecuted or just disappear.

Life is equally hard in towns. People inform on others. People who are loyal to the state are rewarded. People who are not, are punished.

Throughout the novel, there is the air of fear. No one must openly criticize the state, not even children.