The Songs We Hide by Connie Hampton Connally

The two have something in common besides fear: they are singers whose very natures make the silence unbearable. Both Péter and Katalin keep their heads down and their mouths clamped shut, because silence is the only safety they know. Moving to Budapest for a manual labor job, Péter meets Katalin Varga, an unwed mother whose baby’s father has vanished, most likely at the hands of the secret police. In this milieu of dread, the best land of Péter Benedek’s peasant family is seized and his life upended. After a lost war and a brutal transition to communism, the people live under constant threat of blacklisting, property confiscation, arrest, imprisonment, and worse. In 1951, a grim hush has settled over Hungary. But still… here is a brief synopsis of the novel: No, wait-the task of raising my children outstrips the book in both grit and joy. Though The Songs We Hide has been the hardest project of my life, it’s also been the most fulfilling. If I had known at the outset what an uphill climb this project would turn into, I probably would have been scared off and abandoned the idea. The novel was a long time in the making-almost ten years from the initial idea to the printed-and-bound book.

And thanks for this behind-the-scenes look at your new title. Congratulations, Connie! I look forward to reading your book. I invited her tell us about her new book, The Songs We Hide, just released by Coffeetown Press. No, I haven’t written a novel, but writing friend Connie Hampton Connally has.

The Songs We Hide by Connie Hampton Connally