This novel explores the generational journey of a family, in a politically conflicted eastern Europe, and against an initial backdrop of a repressive regime in Romania. In language that is both rich and precise, the author tells of Samuel's attempts to navigate his future through the chaos. An opportunity arises to take a risky new direction on a pathway through the darkness, in a search for clarity and freedom, with life changing consequences.
Florentine had told her that as a little boy Samuel thought that the wind carried words. Words in other languages, some he had often heard and others whose meaning was slow to reveal itself - and he did not feel called upon to answer. No answer was required. There was no balance, always a too much and a too little .... You can overestimate love, expect too much of it. Love, more than anything. We could have lost each other. Through freedom, habit, chance, time. So if you have a wish, say it. Don't rely on it coming to you, or staying with you.
