'I have wished so many times that I had acted differently.
I wish that I had been more worthy of you...
Eventually the war will end, and then we will find each other.
'Until then, remember me.
'Budapest, 1938. In a city park, beneath a bleakly looming statue, five Jewish mathematicians gather to share ideas, trade proofs and whisper sedition. Expelled from the university and persecuted by the state's laws, they live in an uneasy but not unhappy bubble of work, friendship and slim plans of escape.
'Sydney, 2007. Illy has just buried her father, a violent, unpredictable man whose bitterness she never understood. And now, the day after his funeral, Illy's mother has gifted her a curious notebook. Its faded pages are a mix of personal stories and mathematical discovery, all recounted by a young woman seemingly blind to Europe's coming storm. A woman very different to the mother and grandmother everybody knows.
'Inspired by a true story, Miriam Sved's beautifully crafted novel charts a course through both the light and dark of human relationships: a vivid recreation of Hungary before German occupation, a decades-old mystery locked in the histories of five students, and a story about the selfless power of love, even years and worlds apart.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'Miriam Sved’s second novel explores mathematics, antisemitism, and the complex relationships of friends and families across time.'
'Miriam Sved’s A Universe of Sufficient Size is a novel on limits and limitations. This theme is present on several levels throughout the novel, particularly in terms of the historical context and the mathematical element that plays a crucial role in the development of the plot.' (Introduction)
'The purity of mathematics has inspired a number of significant writers. Lewis Carroll, for example, incorporated mathematical concepts with hilarious absurdist themes in the narratives of all Alice books.' (Introduction)
'At the front of Miriam Sved’s A Universe of Sufficient Size is a black-and-white photograph of a statue. The cloaked figure holding a pen (‘like a literary grim reaper’, reflects one char (Introduction)acter) is the statue of Anonymous in Budapest, a significant setting in the book. Its inclusion is a reminder that the novel draws on the story of the author’s grandmother, mathematician Marta Sved (née Wachsberger).'
'The purity of mathematics has inspired a number of significant writers. Lewis Carroll, for example, incorporated mathematical concepts with hilarious absurdist themes in the narratives of all Alice books.' (Introduction)
'Miriam Sved’s A Universe of Sufficient Size is a novel on limits and limitations. This theme is present on several levels throughout the novel, particularly in terms of the historical context and the mathematical element that plays a crucial role in the development of the plot.' (Introduction)
'Miriam Sved’s second novel explores mathematics, antisemitism, and the complex relationships of friends and families across time.'
'At the front of Miriam Sved’s A Universe of Sufficient Size is a black-and-white photograph of a statue. The cloaked figure holding a pen (‘like a literary grim reaper’, reflects one char (Introduction)acter) is the statue of Anonymous in Budapest, a significant setting in the book. Its inclusion is a reminder that the novel draws on the story of the author’s grandmother, mathematician Marta Sved (née Wachsberger).'
