Critical Praise

"I never thought I’d have cause to refer to life behind the Iron Curtain as ‘magnificent’ or ‘evocative,’ but there’s a first time for everything. Train to Trieste is Domnica Radulescu’s debut, and it’s a sweeping, gorgeous book about a young woman’s quest for freedom and safety in Soviet-ruled Romania during the late 1970s. Mona Maria Manoliu is 17, beautiful and has a boyfriend, Mihai, who adores her. [But] Romania is in the throes of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist reign, political dissidents (Mona’s father is one) are being arrested or killed every day . . . Mona lives in constant fear that her father’s contraband typewriter will be found in its hiding place in the oven, or worse, that Mihai himself will be revealed as a member of the secret police. Eventually, the only thing left to do is escape. Mona–alone, bereft, terrified and without saying goodbye to Mihai–turns up briefly in Trieste, moves on to Rome, and finally reaches Chicago, where she begins her life as a refugee. . . . When a cousin visits from Romania and dredges up memories of the past, Mona knows she must return to her homeland, to find Mihai and learn the truth. Every page in this elegant, sophisticated novel drips with detail, from the bittersweet taste of walnut preserves to the sheen of the mahogany wardrobe where a young Mona hides, wondering if it will ever be safe to come out."

——Tiffany Lee-Youngren, San Diego Union-Tribune

"Like the heroine of her debut novel, Domnica Radulescu escaped from Romania in the early 1980s, studied literature at the University of Chicago, and is a smart, sensitive, passionate, and beautiful woman. Hungry for love and life, 17-year-old Mona falls deeply in love with Mihai. But living in Communist Romania, where everyone is suspicious of everyone else, she is unsure of who he is. . . . Despite her constant fears, she cannot stay out of his bed. But when her father is directly threatened and her own life is in danger, [Mona] is encouraged to flee the country. . . . She eventually arrives in Chicago . . . [Years later,] after her marriage ends and the Ceausescus are murdered in a bloody revolution, she returns to her homeland to find out who her first and only love, Mihai, really was. Radulescu’s novel, sprung from an autobiographical impulse, powerfully combines the intensity of first love, the confusion of politics, and the melancholy of exile."

—Barbara Fisher, Boston Sunday Globe

"I was swept away by Domnica Radulescu’s debut novel. It’s at once a haunting journey to a faraway country, beautiful and terrifying, and an odyssey straight to the heart of a young girl and the remarkable woman she becomes. Deeply moving and deeply felt, Train to Trieste is an unforgettable story that introduces a new and astonishingly fresh voice."

—Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha

"This vivid debut novel [is] alive with the youthful awareness of the texture of the old world, the world left behind–in this case, Romania. Mona is just 17 when she falls in love with her ‘green-eyed mountain boy,’ Mihai. The adult world–Ceausescu’s government, secret police, parents in political peril–is closing in on them both. But for one beautiful summer, it’s linden trees and vodka made from fermented plums and stars and mountains and raspberries. . . . Drink in the gorgeous scenery, the Carpathians, Bucharest, the dark forests. Suspend all cynicism and believe in the possibility of this love story."

—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times