Jessica Duchen is a first-rate novelist, compulsively readable. She also evokes the shadow-side of life very well. Anyone who has been fascinated by Budapest will want to read this.

The story, set in a boarding school, of a boy falsely accused of theft, is told entirely from his point of view and one becomes so involved that the climax is quite heart-breaking.

If pushed to choose one album among so many magnificent ones made by Sir Georg, I would choose this: even after 35 years of frequent listening, the 1st Symphony never fails to move.

The first part of a huge trilogy about life in Hungary in its days of glory. Banffy is a gripping story-teller: read one volume and you will want them all! - and there are copies at far less than £40.

No-one has ever matched Cziffra in these works: he brings to them a flair and improvisatory feel which Liszt himself requested.

Authentic Magyar folk - not to be confused with Gypsy café music. The musicians are outstanding in this life-enhancing music: you will want to get up and dance!

Schiff's wonderful Mozart with Vegh is out of print. Here instead is a bargain by perhaps the most poetic and intelligent pianist of his generation.

This is genuine Gypsy folk - very different from Gypsy café music. It is quite unique in its sounds and exhilarating too.

A great Hungarian pianist who died prematurely. The Liszt Sonata, probably inspired by "Faust", is an absolute masterpiece.

Solti turned the pages (for Mrs Bartok) at the Sonata's first performance. He also played it with Geza Anda and, at 80, with Andras Schiff. The wonderful Evelyn Glennie is part of the star line-up too

The horrors of life for women in Budapest as the Russian army "liberated" the city.