The Book of Fathers

When in 1705 Kornell Csillag's grandfather returns destitute to his native Hungary from exile, he happens across a gold fob-watch gleaming in the mud. The shipwrecked fortunes of the Csillag family suddenly take a new & marvelous turn. The golden watch brings an unexpected gift to the future generations of firstborn sons: clairvoyance. Passed down from father to son, this gift offers the ability to look into the future or back into history–for some it is considered a blessing, for others a curse. 

No matter the outcome, each generation records its astonishing, vivid, & revelatory visions into a battered journal that becomes known as The Book of Fathers. For three hundred years the Csillag family line meanders unbroken across Hungary's rivers & vineyards, through a land overrun by wolves & bandits, scarred by plague & massacre, & brutalized by despots. 

Impetuous, tenderhearted, & shrewd, the Csillags give birth to scholars & gamblers, artists and entrepreneurs. Led astray by unruly passions, they marry frigid French noblewomen & thieving alehouse whores. They change their name & their religion, & change them back. They wander from home but always return, & through it all The Book of Fathers bears witness to holocaust & wedding feast alike.