Andor Endre Gelléri (1906-1945) was already considered a master of the short story form during his lifetime. "Stromern" gathers 31 stories from the 1920s and 1930s, in which he turns his attention to the marginalized, the underprivileged, and those who have fallen through the cracks. Budapest is marked by the consequences of the Great Depression, and the protagonists of the stories feel its impact firsthand. Gelléri was all too familiar with the realities of life for his characters; he himself worked in countless jobs and had to toil for his daily meals—yet he always managed to create a truly unique literature. Gelléri's great art, which Timea Tankó has translated vibrantly and with infectious playfulness, lies in acknowledging each character's fate. They may resemble one another, the dyers' apprentices and weavers' trainees, the shoemakers and...