Dervla Murphy is a remarkable lady. This book covers her trips through Transylvania. Literally travelling with just the items she could carry, it was dangerous, tiring and at times simply amazing where and how she travelled through a region just a couple of weeks after the fall of Ceausesc’s long reign of power.
The hospitality she received through Romania was breathtaking, especially in light of peoples poverty. You can’t help but find the stories contained within this book emotional. It also shed light on the reality of a country struggling to adapt to changes. The lack of food, corruption, housing, poverty, cruelty, transport system and more.You go on a journey yourself reading this book, it opens your eyes and the stories can be painful.
I struggled towards the end of the book, I felt emotional drained, but that was nothing to the pain and suffering Dervla had gone through and I stuck with it to the end. In awe of a remarkable lady, amazed by the reality and events that occured in a beautiful place, twisted by humanity.
Dervla has written many books and I know I will be going on more ‘journeys’ soon. If those books are even half as good as this book, they will be well worth reading also.
ISBN: 978-0099206019
Leave a Reply