LOVE WITH PAPRIKA

This memoir of the months Marika Molnar spent with her Granny - ""on the land"" - a large feudal estate near Budapest, is filled with spirit- and sentiment- and the many relatives- largely titled, servants and peasants and gypsies who came under the suzerainty she often shared with Arpad- her counselor as well as coachman. it is Arpad who teaches Gabor, her lovesick cousin, to dance- and to court with confidence the girl he loves, while several other romances are determined here. The girls' governess- the faithful Fraulie- leaves, to be replaced by a French Nle. who flirts outrageously with everyone- until she marries their Uncle Sigmund. The young Countess Valerie, having fallen critically ill, also falls in love with the young doctor who saves her life, defies her mother's disapproval and elopes with him. marika herself is not immune- and the violinist Ferenc wins her heart as she closes this chapter of her youth.... The still untroubled years of the '30's, and a festive, elegant household lend an attractive background to this reminiscence, and it is effervescent and engaging.