The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

A gut-wrenching story of Hungarian people during WWII, Julie Orringer's novel is thick with detail about how the oncoming and ongoing war affected the lives of young Hungarians trying to pursue professions in a very uncertain environment. Mostly it is told from the point of view of Andras Levi who at age 18 leaves Hungary to study architecture in Paris. His family is Jewish; and, with the hindsight of history, the reader feels the threat of changing laws and attitudes and the impending Nazi doom. Much of the story centers around Budapest as Hungarian Jews in foreign countries are forced by arbitrary visa expirations to return to their native countries. What Andras experiences during the war and how much of his family is able to survive keeps the reader glued to the story. Good book set in an interesting place and time.