Blending fact and fiction, The Acts of My Mother is the story of how, almost thirty years after the fall of communism in Hungary, András Forgách found out that his mother, whom he loved deeply, had been an informant for the Kádár regime and had informed not only on acquaintances, but also on family, friends and even her children. In a work of heartbreaking intensity and nuance, Forgách must confront the truth about the woman who was simultaneously an informant as well as a tender and loveable mother, a victim and a perpetrator, someone to be both pitied and scorned. It pulls back the shroud of secrecy on her complex relationship with her husband, her continuous homesickness and desire to return to her homeland, Palestine, and her devotion to communism and the anti-Zionist feelings that it provoked in her. Forgách dares to give a voice to his deceased mother, hold her responsible for her deeds — and, as her son, defend cherished memories of her as his mother.

A work of secrets and lies, The Acts of My Mother sheds light on socialist Hungary in the '70s and '80s; it is simultaneously a vivid description of a claustrophobic era, an evisceration of bureaucratic stupidity and a heartbreakingly sharp-yet-loving portrait of the author's relationship with his parents. (From Penguin Canada)