Release date is 2026-02-01

Apró bűnök -- Egy útitárs -- A gyűrű -- A maestro -- Eltévedt csók -- Káprázat -- Utolsó tavasz -- A kisértet -- Korán és későn -- Kilencz rézpénz -- Czigányok -- Tépett atilla -- Virágzó hantok -- A piros czipő -- Menuette -- A Madonna mécse.

Albert László from page images generously made available by the Hungarian Electronic Library

"Apró bűnök" by Cécile Tormay is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The pieces explore the psychology of love and vanity—the “small sins” and social poses that entice, unmake, or reveal people—told with irony, tenderness, and a sharp eye for motive. Expect urbane vignettes about flirtation, jealousy, pride, and longing featuring witty society women, aging gallants, wounded men, and struggling artists.

The opening of the collection presents a suite of finely cut scenes. In the title story, a charming hostess advises a bride never to abandon her “little faults,” then recounts how “Clarisse” lost a lover by surrendering the very quirks that had captivated him. A train sketch follows: a young man, newly maimed, rushes home buoyed by hope, only to find no one waiting at Cesenatico. Next, a jaded beauty receives her former lover’s request to return a keepsake ring; stung by pride, she summons him and wins him back in a charged, wordless duel over that ring. In Venice, a threadbare “Maestro” who lives off an eternally unfinished canvas returns to find a brisk young painter has completed it, robbing him of his act and, in his mind, his art. The fifth tale begins with an aging raconteur recalling first love for a Frenchwoman and witnessing her humiliating farewell with a fickle American; the excerpt closes mid-recollection, leaving the outcome beyond the opening pages. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Budapest: Franklin-Társulat, 1905