A Luminous Future: Growing up in Transylvania in the Shadow of Communism

by Teodor Flonta

In 1946 ominous clouds are gathering on the narrow horizon of Lupoaia (Valley of the Wolves), a little village in Transylvania, where traditions, impregnated with prejudice and superstition, have endured over many generations. The Second World War is over but the lives of the villagers are thrown into turmoil with the imposition of drastic, senseless changes by a new regime, intent on creating a new man for a new society . The newly-installed totalitarian government threatens to eliminate the Flonta family by declaring Teodor's father, Pavel, a chiabur – an ‘enemy of the people’. Pavel is arrested, imprisoned and tortured. When the wave of persecutions reaches its peak, he is forced to live in hiding. A trade, learned by Pavel in his youth, unexpectedly becomes his salvation – the Russians, who are extracting uranium in the Carpathians for their first atomic bomb, hire him. There, at the mine, the tentacles of the Securitate – the secret police – cannot reach him. Stalin is still alive when Teodor starts school. Torn between two opposite worlds – home, where traditional values are preserved and love abounds – and school, where indoctrination and inequity prevail, he constantly questions and ponders the twisted logic behind events, sometimes with cheekiness and humour, as only a child is capable of doing under the circumstances. Events, however, affect Teodor deeply from an early age, as in the communist system the sins of the father – imaginary as they might be – are made to fall on his young son's shoulders.***‘ A Luminous Future offers a unique insight into one of the most disturbing periods of modern European history. By turns amusing, terrifying and confronting, the story of Teodor Flonta, his father, his family and his community, is both a valuable social document and an intriguing read.’ Chris McLeod, Man of Water , Fremantle Arts Centre Press‘The author does a wonderful job combining the historical and the personal. The images and themes surrounding the wolves – both animal and human – are brilliant. One of the greatest things about this memoir is how the author balances the darkness and cruelty with pitch perfect humor. It is such a triumphant story in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and I think readers will love this family and the spirit they show. It's funny and warm and heartbreaking – as life so often is.’ Jayne Pupek, The Tomato Girl , AlgonquinThis is a charming and sometimes shocking portrait of growing up in a remote village in Romania during the Communist era. It is an intriguing portrayal of the customs and traditions that lingered on from the pre-Communist days, humorous and brutal as they were, and their destruction at the hands of what seems a madness that gripped the country during the 1940s and 50s. It is also a testament to the resilience of the author’s father who endured unimaginable pressures, humiliations and imprisonments for committing no crime other than employing a couple of men. Personally I find the story quite gripping, and clearly and vividly told, with a mass of illuminating detail. The characters come to life well, the author makes a good guide to this – to us – strange world, and conveys the politics in a lively but understated way.’ Helena Drysdale, Looking for George , Picador

Genres: Romania

350 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2012

About the author

Transylvanian born Teodor Flonta is a retired academic and author of 'A Luminous Future' and of multilingual proverb dictionaries. He lives in Tasmania, Australia, with his wife, Ariella, surrounded by beautiful grandchildren. His books are found at http://www.amazon.com/Teodor-Flonta/e... and his bilingual proverb apps at
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/engli... and https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

Reviews

[Madi Preda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of A Luminous Future by Teodor Flonta
Madi Preda - AuthorsPR

In his memoirs of a childhood in Romania during the communism, Teodor Flonta offers an insight into the life in a small village in Transylvania, Lupoaia. The author describes in precisely details how it was like living in Romania under the communist regime and how its poisonous touch left a mark on people lives.
His father was a survivor of several persecution and accusations of being a chiabur and enemy of the people, by Securitate and Mr.Flonta felt the need to tell the story about the reality of life at the time, the indoctrination in school and the permanent fear of the secret police who always was watching and listening. In his honesty Teodor Flonta describes how friends or members of the family betray each other and how people learned to bend under the cruelty of oppressors to stay alive.
The individual characters are powerfully described and the author caught in an absolute perfect way the ugliness of life in The Communist Era.
Teodor Flonta convey a certain sadness over the people lives and reveals the oppressive regime as it was, a political poison and not at all a social paradise, there wasn't a luminous future how The Communist Party liked to say.
But there always was hope and today Romania is a free country,a part of a free world. Few reminiscences there but the things will change through a few generations,once again there is hope.
A Luminous Future would be a great read for the young generation to understand what communism meant in Romania and for everyone else who is interested in political studies or people who want to know more about this beautiful country and understand what the Romanians were going through.
A Luminous Future: Growing Up in Transylvania in the Shadow of Communism
I have to say that I am Romanian so Mr.Flonta’s book resonates with me in a special way.

[Candie Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me up at night, worrying. I yelled at the pages for making me weep and robbing me of sleep and I'm so happy it did. I haven't been entranced by a book for far too long.

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lupoaia, Transilvania. 13 februarie, 1951.
Cândva după miezul nopţii, o dubă neagră, fără geamuri, cu luminile stinse, a oprit în faţa casei noastre. Din ea au ieşit în grabă patru bărbaţi. Doi dintre ei au intrat în curte şi s-au îndreptat spre uşă, în timp ce ceilalţi doi au sărit gardul; unul s-a oprit la geamul din spate al dormitorului, pe partea dinspre grădină, iar celălalt la geamul din faţă, supraveghind strada. Când fiecare a ajuns pe poziţie, primul bărbat apăsă clanţa uşii. Se întoarse către al doilea, scutură din cap şi aruncă o privire pe geam. Era prea întuneric ca să vadă ceva înăuntru. Scutură iarăşi din cap. Cel de-al doilea bărbat făcu un pas înainte şi bătu de trei ori în uşă.
– Flonta Pavel, deschide uşa, strigă el.
Aşteptară cam o jumătate de minut, apoi bărbatul bătu mai tare în uşă.
– Flonta Pavel, ştim că eşti înăuntru.
Eu dormeam în aceeaşi cameră cu tinerii mei părinţi. Loviturile puternice în uşă m-au trezit ca dintr-un coşmar şi am început să plâng. Mama s-a repezit spre mine şi m-a luat în braţe. Am văzut în întuneric umbra tatii apucând hainele, apoi deschizând fereastra şi închizând-o repede la loc.
– Sunt peste tot, şopti el.
– Doamne ajută-ne, zise mama făcându-şi cruce.
– Deschide imediat, altfel spargem uşa. Ştim că eşti înăuntru, Flonta Pavel. Vrem să stăm de vorbă cu tine.
Tata i-a făcut mamei un semn cu capul. Ea m-a aşezat pe pat şi s-a dus să deschidă uşa. Speriat că sunt lăsat singur, am început din nou să plâng. Tata m-a luat în braţe şi a încercat să mă liniştească. Pentru o clipă m-am simţit mai ocrotit lipit de pielea lui aspră, familiară, ce mirosea a paie, balegă de vacă şi pălincă, băutura tare din prune pe care o făcea el la cazan. Mama, desculţă şi cu părul despletit, în cămaşa ei aspră din cânepă, a deschis uşa şi doi bărbaţi în civil năvăliră înăuntru.
Primul o apucă de mână şi o târî în cameră, în timp ce celălalt o împingea de la spate. Mama începu să ţipe, ceea ce m-a făcut pe mine să plâng şi mai tare. Apoi primul securist urlă atât de fioros, încât am îngheţat de frică şi m-am oprit din plâns. Întunericul îl făcea să pară uriaş.
– Aprinde o lumină, femeie, şi ai grijă de prunc, porunci el. Apoi se întoarse către tata şi, cu voce mai potolită, spuse:
– Vii cu noi!

[Angela Mortimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read "real" books, not anymore; I am well aware of how hard life is for many and how brutal the worst of my race can be. It distresses and haunts me and then I have to try to remember there is goodness in our world too and I have to hope that it will finally prevail even when the evidence is to the contrary. Good, decent, sensible people rarely seek to rule; they don't feel the need to. There are exceptions; in my lifetime there is Mandela and he will soon be gone; who then we will look up to, perhaps no-one. How dark life will be then, even in this glitter world.
I had to read this book. Long ago I heard similar stories first hand. There was a language barrier, I had little Polish, in this case, they had less English. It was translated of course but the essence of the words was partially lost, even if the body language told a story. I remember most clearly the description of bad men hiding in the trees waiting to "catch them out". I remember the poverty, the delight in material things we all took for granted, how they added sugar to beer to make it stronger, and I remember the laughter. I am grateful for the laughter and their kindness as those women stroked my hair, "so beautiful," they'd murmur, "we have no redheads in Poland", but that's another terrible story.
Knowing I'd find it distressing, I had to read this book.
It did not disappoint. I am upset, haunted and soon will have to retreat into fiction again, for although that can be terrible, what our imagination translates from our real feelings can be terrible, still it isn't real, so I feel little. Real life is harder to take, every awful act of terror, every stupid decision by politicians, via the real power behind of money or greed or illogical ideology, hurts and cuts deep, not just for the present but for our races future, even if so far we don't deserve a future. I have to remember the good people or I'd give up my hope that perhaps one day we might have a future, luminous or otherwise.
Everyone should read this beautiful book. Because unlike our sanitized and convenient history that's been reduced to mere facts and figures, this book is real, it tells the inconvenient truth of a period in history still active in my lifetime. It bares the human spirit, both good and bad.
The young should read it, I read a great deal I shouldn't when young and it helped form my ideas, even my soul. What's the point of social media, gaming, music, drugs and alcohol when you don't know how your world really functions until it's too late. Perhaps one day when they are in danger of believing the madness of yet another crazy messiah/prophet/charlatan who thinks he speaks from God, the reality of what their dedication may actually entail might penetrate; remembering this true book might save them. Probably not, however they would have been given an understanding of their actions and then their choices are their own.
This story is true; I've heard it before but not in such beautiful prose, such deep, heartfelt telling.
Everyone MUST read this book. or be lost in the fiction we have made for ourselves so we feel comfortable; everyone needs a "dose of reality" to tell fact from fiction, and so make choices, hopefully for the betterment of every human.
Everyone should read this book...

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the biggest tragedies of the end of twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first century is that the full scale of the horrors and depravity of communism have been so easily forgotten. Many former communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe had enough troubles on their plate in the post-communist decades (failing economies, civil wars) that most people didn’t have much appetite for a critical and detailed account and reflection on the wounds of the past. In the west on the other hand, the public was never fully aware of the full extent of life under communism, while the intelligentsia in the media and the educational establishment actually harbored strong sense of sympathy for communism and the regimes that adhered to it. As someone who has actually grown up under communism, and seen many of its evil and dehumanizing aspects, I can only feel a profound sense of sadness, frustration and disappointment that communism has not been judged harsher by the history, both in some of its former strongholds, as well as in the rest of the world. It is one of my enduring life missions to raise more awareness about this totalitarian system and its bloody trail of destruction and horror.

In the light of all that I’ve said above in my lengthy introduction, I was very eager to read Teodor Flonta’s “A Luminous Future.” It is one person’s account of growing up under communisms during some of its darkest hours in Eastern Europe – between the late 1940s and mid 1960s. The title of the book is very self-consciously ironic and mocking, as it uses one of the communists’ favorite slogans against them in a very scathing indictment. The book is a very personal account, with all the charms, personal joys and tragedies, which millions of other people around the world could relate to, with the menacing specter of Communism intruding into their daily lives. Because of its everyman human quality this book could very well be the definitive indictment of communism. Yes, the book features plenty of persecution, imprisonment, torture, even death, but it’s in its day-to-day cruelties and injustices where the true evil of communism can be found for the vast majority of its victims.

The book is very gripping and interesting to read. It combines personal and national history, ethnic customs, peculiarities of village life, and, not least of it, very endearing coming-of-age story. The writing is very fluid and even entertaining at times. It was hard for me to put the book down, and was a bit disappointed that it ended somewhat abruptly. By the end I had come to see Teodor as a kind of a long lost distant relative, someone I would love to share a meal with and exchange life stories till the wee hours of the night. It was a pleasure to get to know him and his life story in this way, and would warmly recommend that you do the same.

[Helen White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This riveting and exquisitely written autobiographical book tells the story of the author Teodor, his father and his family as he grows up in a small and remote village in Romania in the aftermath of the Second World war and during the height of the communist era. The book benefits immensely from the fact that the author has access to some of his father's written records of the era, and so it is able to provide a multifaceted view of life at that time.

I was quite simply captivated by this work from start to finish. The prose is so well crafted that it has the effect of immersing the reader in the world of the young boy and his father. The book vividly elucidates life under the changing faces of communist rule under Stalin and after his death. It is unapologetic in describing the small cruelties and the larger wrongs perpetrated in the name of a collective society, and a luminous future. telling the story through the eyes of a child brings another dimension of shock as the reader is exposed to the realities of re-education and internment camps, as well as the smaller, sometimes almost petty, cruelties of the school system. There is no comforting veil of distance or obfuscation here for the reader to hide behind, and the book left a disturbing and profoundly uncomfortable impression on me, mitigated by the fact that the author did indeed go on and forge a successful life for himself.

The book also makes clear that the notion of a classless society under communism was a myth. Preference is given to the elite in the ruling regime, to the compliant and the fervent disciples. I found myself, at some points, making rather disconcerting parallels between the attitudes of the true believers and adherents of the system, and those of deeply religious people.

It should also be noticed that the writing is not graphic or gratuitous. There is violence, and this is detailed and described, but there is neither a feeling of glorification or indeed condemnation, but rather a straightforward recital of facts, which forces the reader to consider their own position and attitudes. I finished this book feeling as if I would like to make it a set text in European schools. I also wished at the end of the book that there could be more detail given about the author's journey through later life to his eventual home and settlement in Hobart, but I suspect that would be material for another book in itself.

[Uvi Poznansky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Luminous Future is a riveting eye-witness account of the inner strength it takes, for a young child, his family, and the people of his little village, to overcome adversity during a brutal period in the history of Transilvania. The book is written with the goal of learning to recognize injustice, which was indelibly impressed in his mind.

The book is a reflection of the author on events that happened in his childhood, and is told in the voice of a man, not a child. This allows the author the liberty of using a richer, fuller language, and to offer a broad description of the historical context, in a way that would not be accommodated through a child’s voice. “More than fifty years have passed since I witnessed my father’s arrest … I’ve since left Romania, lived in Italy, and ultimately settled in Australia. No matter where I’ve been, though, those scenes have continued to play in my head.”

To me, the title of the book can be read as having two opposite connotations: first, the ironic connotation of empty promises by the communists, “… villages were crawling with clean-shaven people from the city who spied on everybody, asked uncomfortable questions and insisted that the villagers join the Workers’ Party, in exchange for promises of a new life and a luminous future.”

But second, and perhaps more profound, is the positive connotation of writing about the past as a way to shine a bright light to the future, “For my new grandson, for future grandchildren, and for anybody interested in learning how a wicked regime trampled brutally on innocent people’s lives.” It is the value of life, tradition, and the capacity for survival, inherited from ancestors, played by us, and given through us to a future generation.

Five stars.

[Susan Waterwyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always had compassion for oppressed people, sympathy for refugees, and disgust for oppressors. I knew Teodor Flonta's book A LUMINOUS FUTURE was about his Romanian family's struggles with the oppression of the communists. After reading the first few pages last summer, I was so impressed by the quality of the prose, the honesty in the author's voice that I purchased it and promised myself I would read it.

The story has a brutal beginning with the Secret Police showing up late at night. Knowing it is a true story increases the impact of the details. But, Flonta tells the story without a tone of vindictiveness or malice in spite of the fact that the atrocities and oppression was heaped upon his family. In fact, most of the story displays how his family lived, loved and survived. His family is living proof that love and faith can provide strength when intellect can find no reason for it. They endured and survived while Communism in Europe eventually collapsed. I admired and enjoyed the company of his father, mother, grandmother, and all, as they shared love, life, traditions and superstitions. One of my favorite chapters has a witch named Lina that cures people (and spent time in prison for practicing her craft).

Throughout the book the prose displays a poetic quality. Here is an excerpt describing the night of Flonta's birth:
"The wolves looked like dark lumps on the white snow at the edge of the forest, howling at the fiery moon in the sky above them, saluting my coming into the world."

A hauntingly true story of triumph over oppression that will stay with the reader long after they finish the book. I strongly recommend A Luminous Future to any and all readers.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the time I was 11 or 12 I have been fascinated with Communism. I started reading all of the Russian literature and history I could get my hands on. As an adult I broadened my reading to Soviet satellite countries such as Afghanistan and Romania. I have to say A Luminous Future was one of the best books I have read about the effects of Communism on the average person. Teodor's insights and questions, even as a child, are astounding. Each time I sat down to read I became so absorbed in his world, the stories of his father's refusal to submit to the regime despite the consequences, I would have to tear myself away to get sleep. I don't give out 5-star reviews easily, but when I read something that truly transports me to another place I want others to know about it. The world of a small Romanian village in the 1950s & 1960s comes to life on these pages and I didn't want it to end.

For all those who believe that every child should be given a prize in school in order to be fair and not hurt anyone's feelings, Teodor Flonta is a shining example of what that child who doesn't receive a prize, who is beaten down at school but is raised back up by support from his family can accomplish. I have tremendous admiration for the Flonta family, the sacrifices they made, and the comprises they were subjected to.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading "A Luminous Future" by Teodor Flonta. The book is about his family and growing up in Lupoaia (Valley of the Wolves), a little village in Transylvania, during Communism which effected the average person just trying to support their family. He writes from the heart and the reader can feel his pain through his words. While I was reading the book, during the torture of the people who were declared "chiabur" and enemy of the people, I felt bad for them and wanted to reach into the book to help them out. Teodor's mother and father are true examples of loving and caring parents who did everything they could for their only child. I was emotionally captivated from the beginning until the very end of the book. I really liked how the author included family photos at the end of the book so that you can put a face to the some of the people in the book. I want to praise the author for writing such a heartfelt, emotional, and well written book about how he grew up in such a difficult time in history. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Communism and wants to learn more about that time period.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Luminous Future" by Teodor Flonta is a book that will move you and educate you on how people lived in Romania up to the time Teodor left his homeland and migrated, with his new wife, to Australia. Read about how the Communists took so much from the people who lived there, no matter how much or how little they had. Learn about how they survived even under the harshest of times.

Teodor came from a very loving and supportive family. His father said to him, "they can't take anything away from your mind" and, because of this statement, Teodor was able to go to school and university believing he could have a luminous future.

For those of you who enjoy reading books that move you and educate you, this is the book to read. You will enjoy Teodor's view of his world. The boy who was never to be became a fine man. Never to be? His mother was told she would never get pregnant. When she did, she fought to have him and cherished him until her end. Both of Teodor's parents cherished him. His grandmothers also cherished him. To have SUCH love and support helped Teodor survive and thrive. Teodor was a very smart, kind and inquisitive child. Now as an adult with grandchildren, I believe he is that and more.

Pick up a copy of "A Luminous Future". You won't be disappointed.

[Cale · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A Luminous Future” starts off in a small village named Lupoaia with the Securitate (police) coming to take Flonta Pavel away as his young son and wife watch helplessly. The mom unfortunately suffers a miscarriage, and it is noted that the phrase “you are coming with us” will become a recurring theme in this book. As it was, and the father is deemed a CHIABUR, an “enemy of the people”. No, he wasn’t killing people or even hurting them…under the communist regime he was considered an enemy because he was “rich” (rich being used very loosely here). He had 2 people that worked for him a few months of the year, therefore in the eyes of the communist government he was some sort of tycoon. Crazy! So many times while reading this book I found myself shaking my head in disbelief or lifting my jaw up off the floor because it was so incredible. But there were also times that I laughed and smiled and genuinely felt the emotions of the characters. I think the grandpa Toderea was my favorite, but they were all amazing and wonderfully drawn. I am very pleased that their story was told and I hope others read and find enjoyment in it like I have.

[Irene Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an ebook free from the author through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. This is the most incredible book that I’ve read related to this time period of Communism in Russia and the European countries that are part of the Russian Empire. I find Communism a very interesting economic system of government compared to our system of government in the USA. I am so thankful that I live in the USA, “The land of the free.” Teodor was very fortunate that he had such a caring, loving, and supportive family while being viciously and cruelly mistreated in the name of Communism to achieve “a luminous future.” There is a very sad, serious, and scary aspect to this book but the author also lets us see some lighthearted and funny moments in his life. Despite all of the injustice he endured Teodor’s life is a success story. The pictures of Teodor and his family at the end were wonderful. This book really made me think and I was very impressed by Teodor’s insight, grit, and stamina. Let us not take our freedoms for granted and let us never forget the brutal injustices that many others have suffered.

[Peggy Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those times when I wish there were 10 stars to give. Not since reading Man's Search For Meaning by Victor Frankel have I read and admired a man so much. I read very few non fiction books but I'm glad I picked this one. I am having a hard time finding the right words to do this review justice and keep feeling that if I had the intelligence of Teodore Flonta, it would help. I always thought it would be horrible to have grown up in a communist country, but I had no idea how bad it really was. I'm sure my spirit would have been broken, but because of this author's father and his beautiful philosophy, he always seemed to bounce back. I love the author's writing style. The way he describes the village where he lived, the house he lived in and the relationships of the people made me feel like I was there and the feelings were so intense that I had to take breaks from time to time knowing that this wasn't fiction. I would highly recommend this book for anyone with any kind of insight at all or anyone who wants to gain some insight.

[Alexandra Bogdanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Simply stated, this was an incredible story -- which as a first generation American and the daughter of a staunch anti-Communist who fled the former Yugoslavia as a political refugee -- I could relate to from the opening sentence to the last one.
Without superfluous detail, Mr. Flonta recalls the harrowing experiences and injustices he and his family endured while being forced to live in a Communist society. We witness them first through the eyes of a terrified little boy who has no idea why his father is dragged off in the middle of the night, and later through the eyes of a young man who is denied academic and professional opportunities because of his father's alleged transgressions.
Ultimately, however, this is more than a mere memoir. It is a cautionary tale and a must-read not only for the general public, but for those world leaders who are under the incredibly misguided impression that this isn't still happening in some countries, or that it will never happen again. For as the saying goes, those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it.

[Julia Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read memoirs very often, but A Luminous Future captured my heart and my attention from the first chapter. Flonta’s deft telling of his personal experiences while living under the reign of Communism in a small village in Transylvania is at once fascinating, painful and, ultimately, heartwarming. And, I think the story is one that Americans, especially those of us who grew up in the sixties and seventies, will find surprising. Of course, I had heard the older generation talking about how evil communism was, but I always wondered if they really knew what they were talking about. Those doubts were laid to rest when I read this book. The oppression that Flonta describes goes beyond my darkest imaginings. At the same time, it was wonderful to read about the love he had for his parents and the way they stood by each other through it all. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to look at life from a new perspective, see the reality of it, and go away with hope in their hearts.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A Luminous Future” is the nonfiction story by Teodor Flonta that starts in 1951 in Transylvania where his father is taken away and arrested in the middle of the night by the Securitate. His father was deemed an “enemy of the people”, and throughout the novel we see how that affects Teodor and his life. This is a powerful true tale of living under a Communist regime, and the taxing effects it has on those who dare oppose The Party. What I liked the most was the way Mr. Flonta made history come alive and eloquently express his perception of a world many of us find foreign, but fascinating. The stories made me feel like I was really there and seeing the world through his eyes, which is much better than just reading about it in a history book. It was excellently written with a graceful prose and sweeping narrative that had me totally hooked.

[Douglas Wickard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met this author on Twitter and frequently, he would post quotes, sentences from the novel. Twitter can be fast-paced, hectic, frenzied almost, and when I came upon these choice bits I felt as if time slowed down, forcing me to savor Teodor's poetry in words. This is not a fast read. I wouldn't want to rush through the pages of Teodor's life, in fact, I took extra time, needing to visualize his haunting words and live each day beside him. Some of which was brutal. The power of the human will shines through on these pages, from Teodor as a young boy growing up under the siege of communism or later, while attending school, his first love to eventual marriage. Bravo, Teodor on a well-documented memoir. I spent many nights reading the days of your Life right alongside you.

[Gerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning of this book I was captured by the trials, despairs and triumphs of the Flonta family...as well as the other citizens caught up in what was to be the new Luminous Future. The author details the midnight raids and beatings by the police to those whom are declared enemies of the state. Citizens are given classes in what they should believe, how to act and how to inform on those friends, family and neighbors they suspect might not share the new vision of A Luminous Future. This is a book everyone should read. It shows how a country can be overtaken and all freedoms striped away, all so easily. It also shows how the ignorant and greedy profit, and good men are cast aside. I highly recommend A Luminous Future.

[Quentin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable and thoroughly moving book that provides a window onto the mad world of the post-war communist regime in Romania. The book is written very much from the heart, with a great deal of love and affection, but is also free of self-pity in its matter-of-fact narrative. It's remarkable that the narrative can be so free of self-pity considering the tribulations Romanian peasants were forced to undergo to supposedly turn them into model communist citizens.
It's a completely absorbing and fascinating book, highly recommended.

[Mary Mycio · Rating 5 out of 5]

n the tradition of A. Kuznetsov's "Babyn Yar", Teodor Flonta's book is a charming memoir of a terrible time seen through the eyes of a child, exposing the absurd cruelty and mendacity of Stalinism and its spawns in Eastern Europe. The confrontation between the superstitious, mostly illiterate and tradition-bound villagers and Party goons sent to wring them into "new men" is played out in the persecution of Flonta's own father for the "crime" of owning a distillery. A compelling, beautifully written testament.

[Ken Brimhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Book that Had To Be Written

Teodor Flonta’s book of treasured memories tells the story of his family’s struggle against the repressive Communist regime in Transylvania, beginning at the end of World War II. Its theme reminds one of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, and is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Along the way, we also get numerous insights into Romanian peasant folkways and traditions. Teodor’s father, mother and grandmother stand as great heroes.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Luminous Future is a gripping account of the author’s childhood in Romania during the Communist era. I have seen several historical accounts of these times, but to read Teodor’s experiences told in his own wry style has greatly enhanced my understanding of the brutality and irrationality of the regime. What makes the story particularly moving is the author’s ability to convey both his own emotions and those of his family, and the strong family bond that endured throughout. I highly recommend this book.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an amazing story of a boy growing up in Romania under the Communism regime. You learn the many sacrifices the parents made, the trials the family went through and the joy of the end of communism. I was so happy the father lived to see the fall of Communism. I found tears in my eyes at times and a smile on my face at others. Such an amazing family and a wonderfully written story.

[Ellis Vidler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book that will take you to another world and time, one I knew little about. Flonta describes life under a regime controlled by thugs in straightforward language that will make you weep, but then he returns to beautiful descriptions of the love and sacrifices of his family. This is a book that touches your heart and makes you think. Very, very good.