The snow of the dying century still lay on the edge of the dark forest when Lajos von Lázár, the translucent child with water-blue eyes, first glimpsed the man he would believe to be his father for his whole life and beyond. LÁZÁR tells the story of a noble Hungarian family and their decline over several generations, taking us from the beginning of the 20th century through the Nazi and Soviet eras to the Hungarian national uprising in 1956. It is an astonishingly self-confident, clever novel and Nelio Biedermann demonstrates himself to be psychologically sensitive and brilliant storyteller at the age of 21. A fresh voice from a new generation looking at history through a different lens and telling it in a way that feels both modern and timeless. The novel, with its nods to One Hundred Years of Solitude and Buddenbrooks, is a highly impressive work for an author of any age - and promises much more to come. Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch