To be published: Q3 2025
This suspenseful novel with elements of a thriller by a young Moldovan writer is set in his native Transnistria. It captures the grim reality of post-Soviet Moldova, mainly through the eyes of a child: poverty and life “behind the wall” in a railway cars converted into dwellings. Part of this reality is the civil war of the early 1990s and the emergence of the pro-Russian “Transnistrian Republic.”
The past contrasts with the present of the main character, who lives in Great Britain and works as a journalist. However, his childhood traumas and injuries — both physical and psychological — catch up with him here as well. As a result of certain family events, he is forced to overcome his fear and, under dramatic circumstances, returns from the free world to the places of his childhood. However the past catches up there with him in full force…
The novel is published with an afterword by the translator, Romanist Jarmila Horáková.