Európa considered the translation of Atwood’s novel titled Surfacing in the summer of 1974. The novel tells the story of a young woman who leaves the city with three friends to look for her father who disappeared on one of the islands in the wilderness of Canada. While visiting the lake where she spent her childhood, uncovering layers of her consciousness, she is faced with issues of American consumerism, automatization, urbanization, and fate on a personal and social level. In 1974 two opinions were submitted: the first recommended the publication, the second one discouraged it. Seven years later, in 1981, however, a third reviewer recommended the publishing and highlights that it is free from experimental writing and is characterized by everyday realism. Apart from these, three other reports dated 1981 and 1982 mention that Atwood should be introduced in Hungary with Surfacing, and a 1981 report on Life Before Man also points out that Atwood’s earlier works “should be considered” as well. The publisher probably gave in to these repeated “requests” when in 1984 finally published the volume in Hungarian under the title Fellélegzés [Relief] but not all reviewers shared a unanimous approval of the novel. A 1982 report on Bodily Harm as a side note mentions resignedly that Surfacing was not a good choice. From this document we know that the decision for translation was already made in 1982 while the novel was published only two years later. This time lag was probably due to the still lingering paper quota, authorization procedures, and the general scarcity of foreign currency to pay for the translation rights. It is worth noting, however, that the title of the published translation does not correspond with the titles suggested by the reviewers in the reports: Felszínre bukkanás (literal translation: coming to the surface), Felmerülés (literal translation: surfacing), or Felszínre érni (literal translation: reaching the surface), although these are much closer to the plot of the original novel and to the recurring Canadian topoi of a search for identity or survival. It took 10 years for Európa Publishing House to consider, reconsider and finally publish the first Atwood novel in Hungarian.