Domnica Radulescu grew up under the shadow of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. It was an era characterised by food queues, censorship and suspicion, with the ever-present threat of ‘disappearance’ at the hands of the secret police. In 1981 when she was just 20 she won the National Prize for Short Story Writing, but left Romania a few years later under the pretence of taking a holiday in Italy. Once there she claimed political asylum in America, where she now teaches French and Italian literature and Women’s Studies at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. She talks to Jane about her debut novel Train to Trieste, which is based on the events of her life.
‘Train to Trieste’ ,by Domnica Radulescu, is published by Random House, ISBN: 978-0-385-61368-2
