The Songs We Hide by Connie Hampton Connally

Well written and well researched, it’s set in post-World War II Hungary in 1951 under a socialist totalitarian regime with a strong embrace of Stalinism. The Songs We Hide is a deeply moving story about the power of music and song lifting hearts through difficult challenges of oppression and suffering. As harsh reality assaults them again, is hope even possible? Facing their hardest trials yet, Péter and Katalin learn to carve dignity and beauty out of pain. Yet the hurts and threats in their lives remain, waiting. In their bond of trust, they find relief and unexpected happiness. Little by little they tell each other what they cannot tell others. When Katalin starts giving Péter voice lessons, they take an intrepid step out of hiding by making music together. 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.

The Songs We Hide by Connie Hampton Connally