István Gáll's popular novel, first published in 1970, used the masterly interplay of the past, the recent past and the present to suggest and portray the author's main theme, the adamant survival from the past of war and persecution, and the shape it takes in the present. The story of the book, a love story and the story of the Holocaust in Hungary as experienced by a young girl, unfolds within the framework of a distraught night, when July inadvertently wakes her husband because she is grinding her teeth and dreaming of dogs and Germans. As her husband tries to calm her, their late-night conversation gradually unfolds Juli's story of the war and the ensuing Communist years, as well as their touching love story, while as they attempt to drift back into sleep, we hear their interior monologues, two separate, parallel streams of consciousness which meet in a see of love, support and understanding one of the other.

István Gáll (1931-1982), author of a volume of poems as well as an impressive number of popular short stories and novels, studies and critiques, is perhaps best known for his sociologically inspired book, The Stud Farm (Ménesgazda), which was made into a movie. In 1978 he was awarded the Kossuth prize, the highest prize for outstanding achievement in literature and the arts.