A novel about time and love of impeccable literary refinement.
In the heart of a wild Carpathian valley, Iochka makes charcoal. Almost a hundred years old, he likes to keep quiet, drink dry and drive down the winding mountain roads in his old blue Trabant. But most of the time, he sits on the bench outside his small house, reminiscing about his unusual life. The war, the Soviet camps, Ceaușescu, then the camaraderie of the construction site when he is assigned to build a railroad that leads nowhere. There, far from the tumult of history, he experiences sexual harmony with Ilona, the luminous love of his life, and shares the unfailing friendship of the foreman, the doctor, and the priest, all three as alcoholic and eccentric as himself. With them, he approaches the secret of time and happiness.
In a prose with immense breath, Cristian Fulaș makes unforgettable characters exist. Iochka, a novel as funny as it is poignant, is a powerful song dedicated to tiny lives broken and forgotten in the great race of the world.
