‘Train’ offers lush romance among Romania’s bounty

Published 4:01 pm Thursday, August 21, 2008

“Train to Trieste: A Novel,” (Alfred A. Knopf: 308 pp., $23.95) by Domnica Radulescu

“I have left the Black Sea, my skin golden and salty, and my hair tangled brighter from the sun, to take the train that crosses the land by the violet-blue sea and the sunflower fields near Bucharest, then cuts through mountains into resin-pungent forest.”

So begins this vivid debut novel, alive with the youthful awareness of the texture of the old world, the world left behind — in this case, Romania.

Mona is just 17 when she falls in love with her “green-eyed mountain boy,” Mihai. The adult world — Ceausescu’s government, secret police, parents in political peril — is closing in on them both.

But for one beautiful summer, it’s linden trees and vodka made from fermented plums and stars and mountains and raspberries.

Mona leaves Romania on the train to Trieste without saying goodbye to Mihai, whom she suspects has joined the secret police. She goes on to a life in Chicago — a husband, children, a doctorate and, of course, years later, she returns.

There’s a certain inevitability (if not predictability). But for a few days, just drink in the gorgeous scenery — the Carpathians, Bucharest, the dark forests. Suspend all cynicism and believe in the possibility of this love story.