Dream in a Suitcase unravels a fast-paced journey of survival, resilience, and the power of love. It is the first English language memoir of a female Romanian-American survivor of the worst communist dictatorship behind the Iron Curtain.
The story offers a rich multicultural mosaic of a life divided not only between two cultures and languages, that of the heroine’s native Romania and her adoptive US but also between Chicago's urban culture and that of a small town in Virginia marked by a heavy confederate history. This book is deeply relevant for our times as it offers an opportunity for American-born audiences to develop a deeper understanding for all those who arrived in this country as refugees in search of freedom, peace, and different versions of the American Dream.
Endorsements:
“An extraordinary memoir of fortitude and freedom, a narrative that is vibrant and lyrical. Radulescu takes us from Romania's dark dictatorial past to the world of literature and beauty, back to the landscapes of her beloved native country, then to her new home in America, and always to the geography of the earth. This is an extraordinary read and a covenant to the power of truth and words.”
Marjorie Agosin, award-winning author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill.
“Domnica Radulescu is a courageous writer. Dream in a Suitcase, like her other novels, is a breathless read.”
Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator, award-winning poet, and filmmaker.
Domnica Radulescu is an American writer of Romanian origin living in the United States, where she arrived in 1983 as a political refugee. She settled in Chicago, where she obtained a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Chicago.
She is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, Train to Trieste, Black Sea Twilight, and Country of Red Azaleas, and of award-winning plays. Train to Trieste has been published in thirteen languages and is the winner of the 2009 Library of Virginia Best Fiction Award. Radulescu received the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and is twice a Fulbright scholar. She is a distinguished service professor of comparative literature in Virginia.