I write. I create. I perform. I treat trauma and relationships. I care about the world.

I wrote a novel. I’m looking for an agent and seeking a publisher. Here is the synopsis.

When I Was Better (synopsis)

Both dark and humorous, my novel’s title is taken from a laconic Hungarian saying, “When I was better I didn’t brag.” When I Was Better spans twenty years of the troubled courtship and marriage of Etelka and István as the Nazis are defeated and the Soviets occupy Hungary at the end of the Second World War.

On the cold, winter day Kiss István leaves his wife and infant son in western Hungary, Soviet tanks have crushed the 1956 Revolution and the spirit of the people. He is of the last of two hundred thousand refugees fleeing to Austria, but his conscience will never let him rest. His wife Etelka, traumatized by the war and violence of the occupation, is left to fend for herself and her baby after an act of desperation forces her husband to abandon his young family and choose self-preservation over duty.

The novel explores the moral dilemmas that leave a legacy of secrecy, shame, isolation and relational ruptures. It is a moving chronicle of a refugee crisis from a different time, and the intergenerational impact of trauma on families. It is written for readers of Irène Némorovsky’s Suite Française and Sofi Oksanen’s Purge.

“With sharp insight and the gifts of a natural, Bozi’s novel brilliantly chronicles the plight of an entire generation of Hungarians through the intimate portrait of two lovers tested by the political and personal betrayals that ripped through the heart of the twentieth century.”

– Dennis Bock

“When I Was Better is a masterfully written historical novel – a coming-of-age story filled with troubled love, totalitarianism and war. The story is rich, intriguing and the characters are very much flesh and blood. Reading it deepens our understanding of oppression, freedom and what turns ordinary people into refugees; a reality we must begin to comprehend on a personal level. History is not just history; this novel allows us an intimate view from a generational context. We need this book.”

– Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir

“When I Was Better, is a tribute to the resiliency of the human spirit, of the indistinguishable light of hope in the darkest of times. Tragic but inspiring, ugly yet beautiful. I could not put it down and did not want it to end.”

– Lorinda Stewart

Rita Bozi, writer

Rita Bozi, writer

I write. I create. I perform. I treat trauma and relationships. I care about the world.

I wrote a novel. I’m looking for an agent and seeking a publisher. Here is the synopsis.

When I Was Better (synopsis)

My Fair Lady - The Punk Version