Built on dreams and childhood mythology, Ágnes Gergely�s imaginary Cobalt Country is no social parable, but rather an allegorical utopia embodying the feelings and existential doubts of the modern man. The poems of the book are linked together and framed by a story told in prose. As Encelado XVII, King of Cobalt Country, discusses the main issues of existence with his fool, the philosophical conversation expresses a view of life full of doubts and irony.

The subtitle of the book, 52 "older" and "newer" poems, may well imply the utmost care with which Ágnes Gergely constantly re-writes her texts, making them at times drier and more graphic, at times smoother. Her poetry is characterized by passion pressed into strict form, the alternation of axiomatic density and surprising turns of thought, as well as allusions to literary and cultural sources and personal mythology. The poems are in constant interplay with texts by other, classical or contemporary, poets. The “newer” poems are worth reading alongside The Unguarded.

Gergely�s fourth novel is more like a ballad. Karen, a young Hungarian widow with a daughter, Daniela, and stepdaughter, Detti, meets Carlos, a widower of German and South American parentage, at a poetry reading in Finland in the early 1980s. With Daniela's deteriorating illness and Detti's car accident making life even more difficult, Karen and Carlos hope to be redeemed from their painful memories through their love, but the political bureaucracy in Hungary, hindering free movement of the country's citizens to the "West", presents a further obstacle, and Carlos, who is making a film about a female Swedish spy and double agent, is watched with suspicion. Moreover, the disciplined and good-natured Carlos is blackmailed by his former family to withdraw from the marriage, and he leaves the strong Karen to her own fate.