One of the comic and melancholic classics of Hungarian literature, The Lark invites us to dive deep into the psyche of a mother and father whose lives revolve around their daughter and who worry about her troubles. After their unmarried and not very attractive daughter, aka Tarlakuşu, leaves home to visit relatives, the Vajkay's find themselves surrendered to the joy of life, friends, tastes and pleasures they have long forgotten. But this short vacation will pass in the blink of an eye and the couple will have to face the inevitable reality with the return of the Lark.

In The Lark, Kosztolányi, one of the most influential writers of Hungarian literature, portrays through the fictional provincial town of Sárszeg and its inhabitants the timeless, mundane human strife, anxieties and frustrations. For, as Peter Esterhazy says, "With its ugliness, its annoyance, its aggressive benevolence, the Lark is us. It is our lives that are so rigid, so predictable, so impersonal. The lark is eternal. There is no escape from him. Our little bird always returns home."