The House of Spark
by
Luminita Laflash
Genre/s
Fiction, Political thriller, Historical
Publish Date
March 9, 2022
Short Description
It's the 1950s in Romania, after the fall of the Romanian monarch, a time of terror for its citizens. Following the Russian rules, the government implemented the Securitate, a police agency used as an instrument of manipulation and control over the country and its economics, education, and even its very culture. But one group of young university students will not be silenced.
The novel is a story of the courage, resilience, and pride of Romanian people who overcame the fear that lay within themselves and fought the injustices at the time. Based on real events and the author's family history, The House of Spark shares the story of a group of people unrelated to one another who banded together in search of their missing friend Jenica. Despite the danger that they could face prosecution, imprisonment, or even death for the questions they were asking. They proved that their passion for one another overcame the fear within them and fought anyway. Will Jenica's girlfriend Virginia be able to find him?
$14.99
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Book's Awards
Description
The House of Spark takes place in Romania during the ruling of the Communist regime in 1957. During this time, the country was invaded by the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet system, the new Romanian government invented the Securitate, an instrument for manipulating and controlling the population. Young Virginia is a university student whose life of tragedy--including her father and brother's death--has given her a strength beyond her years. Just when she started feeling strong again, her boyfriend, Jenica, vanished. Virginia turned to their mutual friends, Doina and Mircea, for help. They started gathering information to find him taking serious risks in doing so, causing them to jeopardize their safety with the Securitate and others through exposure and asking questions. When there's a report of a homicide, Virginia fears the worst, but attempts at surreptitiously getting identification or a police report are met with suspicious dead ends. It's too dangerous to get the officials involved, and it's difficult to know who to trust--identifying who are members of the communist party or who would be sympathetic to her efforts. She's desperate to find out where Jenica is or what has happened to him. An unexpected phone call turned Virginia's world upside down, but it will help her find Jenica.
The House of Spark is based on what Luminita's family lived through in Romania during this tumultuous period of controlling and violent communist power and civil unrest. The novel is a story of bravery and resilience by the thousands of Romanian families who carried on to persevere, finally ending with the 1989 Romania Revolution, the end of the communist rule in the country, and the beginning of a rebuilding towards democracy.
