Krisztina Tóth's first substantial work in prose after four volumes of remarkable verse, consists of fifteen beautifully written and highly sensual short stories. Most are narrated with poetic intensity and intimacy from a young, unnamed female narrator's point of view. Whether about childhood acquaintances, school camps and trips, or love and deceit in love, they are all are set against the backdrop of Hungary's socialist era in its declining years. The stories are carefully strung, like jewels in a necklace, along metaphorical 'lines', as in the title of the collection and the subtitle of the pieces. The losses, disappointments, and tragedies great and small recounted here offer nuanced ‘mirrorings’ of the female soul and linger long in the memory.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Coded Writing, Plain Speaking:An Introduction to Kristina Tóth’s Barcode by TÍMEA TURI
• BARCODE by KRISZTINA TÓTH
• Vacant People (Borderline)
• The Pencil Case (Guidelines)
• Outline Map (Life Line)
• The Fence (Blood Line)
• Ant Map (Line of Passage)
• The Castl (Front Line)
• Tepid Milk (Barcode Lines)
• Black Snowman (Grid Lines)
• Insulated Floor (Transport Line Tickets)
• Cold Floor (Baseline)
• “The Witch Has Three, Three Kids Has She” (The Line’s Busy)
• What’s This Mark Here? (Bikini Line)
• I Love Dancing (Double White Line)
• Take Five (Fault Line)
• Miserere (Draw A Line Under It!)
• A word about the translator, Peter Sherwood