The attempt to break into her house and 'rescue' her to the medical help seems to be a violation of the understanding. As the pressure mounted, she shut herself inside her house, only after regulating her will and the works that needed to be complted by individuals in the event of her death. The story takes a definite turn with her illness and her stubbornness against getting medical admission. Except fot the dog Viola and the 9 cats she grow inside her closed house, none seems to understand her, and any attempts were blocked by her unfriendly behaviour. She even had to suffer her reputation to protect the girl. To the promise to them, she keeps every thing that were entrusted to her with utmost care waiting for their return. Her previous employers a Jewish family leave every thing behind to the care of Emerence including their daughter Eva during the years of War. The tragic death of her siblings, the resulting suicide of her mother,mostly obvious death of her father during war, her job as domestic help at an early ages of fourteen are unveiled in front of us as a fairly tale. It is through the bits and pieces of information that she gathers, the previous life of Emerence, emerge ( albeit in patches) to the writer and us. Behind the idiosyncrasies and the solitary living, has a body and soul that endured sufferings of a life time.

The writer, now learnt to appreciate the differences, tries to understand and alanyse the person whom she has observed from close quarter.

The strange love-hate relationship between the writer and Emerence continued for over 20 years with many incidents in their life. Even he was only received outside her house and the door to house ( and life) was shut to every one. She stays alone and the only connection she seems to be having with the external world is her nephew who visits her once in a while. However, any attempts to get closer to her is reciprocated with a strong rejection. 'She made demands, more than I had expected, but she also gave a lot,' The interdependency grew as the time progresses, with both making adjustment to each other. It took less than a week for the employers to realise the real character of her.The initial apprehension slowly turned into admiration for the lady for her hard working ways and no nonsense approach. As it is the case in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe I guess, she has the authority to appear at her convenience and finish the work. ,Emerence to her physical appearances of tall lady with broad shoulders and erect posture (' powerfully built for a person of her age, muscular rather than fat, and radiating strength like a Valkyrie”), turn out to be a hard talking stubborn, at time no respect for the means and ways of her employers and even sound a bit crazy.

A young writer, struggling with her priorities as a writer and her home responsibilities, hires a domestic help on recommendation from a friend.

The door by magda szabó