Summary

Part III begins with Chapter 11, “Immigration Day.” Shifting to past-tense, first-person narration, Dr. Eger describes her arrival in America on “October 28, 1949” as “the most optimistic and promising day of [her] life” (129). She describes standing, with Marianne in her arms, on the deck of the ship taking the family to America, passing the Statue of Liberty and looking forward to her reunion with Magda, who is already in New York. As she describes Bela joining her, the author recalls how he did not make his decision about where to go until the absolute last minute, and how Csicsi pretended to be him during a medical examination so that Bela’s history of tuberculosis would not derail their plans. The author also describes how she and Bela seemed a bit unsure of each other, since she had indicated...