Between 1995 and 2003 he worked as a television talkshow host in popular series such as Rögtön, Lehetetlen and 2 ember.

He understands many languages, including German, English, French, Spanish, Russian and even Latin.

The story begins in 1706, when the Czuczor printer family, having recently returned to Hungary from Germany, is forced to flee again by the violence which ensues after the Habsburg army suppresses the war of Hungarian independence led by Prince Ferenc Rákóczi.

After this miraculous survival (he is fed by a dog while living in the woods), Kornél grows up to become a talented and wealthy man, changing his name to Sternovszky.

And so the lineage carries on, through the Hungary's Holocaust, its Stalinist terror of the 1950s, and eventually passing to America, where Henryk Csillag is born.

He moves to Budapest, and it is his son who picks up the tale of the book of fathers in 1999, the year of the solar eclipse.

The book thrillers and tragicomedies which is shot through with strands of Hungary's history and rich culture, deploying an astonishing battery of literary styles appropriate to the period of each episode.