The Voices Of Silence
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 20, 2008
The Voices Of Silence
Bel MooneyWalker Books, $14.95It's Romania, 1989, and Ceausescu lives in a palace while 13-year-old Flora lives in a one-room apartment with her parents. The family struggles against the grinding weight of communist rule, finding small joys - a roll of toilet paper, a flower in a vase -when they can. The fall of the Berlin Wall changes everything. Flora's father suddenly sees a way to lead his family to happiness but first he must leave them behind. Tense and moving, Bel Mooney's novel about a girl growing up in a country dominated by cruelty, lies and constant suspicion is riveting. Politics, revolution, the nuances of family relationships, betrayal - it's all here, woven together in a powerful narrative about the lengths people go to for freedom.
© 2008 The Sunday Age