Alexandru Popescu
MONTANA
ROMANIA
BOOK
This gripping novel with thriller elements by a young Moldovan author is set in his native Transnistria. Told primarily through the eyes of a child, it captures the bleak reality of post-Soviet Moldova – poverty and life “behind the wall” in a railroad depot, in freight cars converted into living quarters. Part of this reality is the civil war of the early 1990s and the emergence of the pro-Russian “Transnistrian Republic.” This past contrasts with the present-day life of the protagonist, who lives in the United Kingdom and works as a journalist. However, the traumas and wounds of his childhood catch up with him even there. As a result of family events, he is forced to overcome his fear and return from the free world to the places of his childhood. There, however, the past catches up with him in full force…
Published by Maraton, 2025
AUTHOR
© Alexandru Popescu
Alexandru Popescu (* 1987) was born in the city of Bendery in the Republic of Moldova. He studied communication sciences and worked for several years as a reporter for news agencies, television, and radio stations in Chișinău. He has lived in the United Kingdom since 2017. He made his literary debut in 2022 with the novel Montana, which was awarded the Moldovan Writers’ Union Prize the following year. In the spring of 2023, the author’s second novel, Adâncuri incolore (Colorless Depths), was published. A year later, he published his third book, titled Ecografie (Ultrasound).
TRANSLATION
Jarmila Horáková
