A novel of intrigue, nostalgia, and coming of age in Romania, first for the peasant boy and his Jewish friend in WWII then for the man as he confronts the hopes then learns of the fears and disappointments of Russian-imposed Communism. His view of life in a beloved land as conditions deteriorate under Ceausescu's iron whimsy is thrown into relief with the arrival of a new Director of the American Library in the 1980s. That, an unwanted request to work for the feared Securitate and the need to protect the world from a destructive threat upend his life.