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Along the Enchanted Way: A Story of Love and Life in Romania
Change is now coming to rural Romania, and William Blacker's adventures will soon be part of its history. From his early carefree days tramping the hills of Transylvania to the book's poignant ending, 'Along the Enchanted Way' transports us back to a magical world most of us thought had vanished long ago.
305 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2009
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January 29, 2025
After living and working in Romania for 3 1/2 years I wish I had read this before I went, not many years later.
Simple true account of an Englishman coming to Romania just after the revolution in 1999 and leaving in 2004. I came in 2008 and then again in 2010. The Author lives in the Marmures. Falls in love with a gypsy girl, living with the gypsies and having a child ( he only finds out about him when he has returned to the UK).
Blacker paints a picture of a land still in places almost medieval - work practices, clothing, attitudes. I have to say that I saw little of this except in passing through villages in Transylvania.
The writing style is an easy one. I was reminded at times of two books I had read before. Firstly, Laurie Lee’s ‘As I walked out one summer morning,’ and his walk through Spain during the Spanish Civil War. And also ‘A year in Tibet: A voyage of Discovery’ by Sun Shuyun. Both capturing snapshots of past time and people.
Some lovely black and white photos in Blacker’s book that reinforce the feeling of a long gone time. Prince Charles now King also chose this as one of his 5 favourite books. Charles has a long association with Romania.
Simple true account of an Englishman coming to Romania just after the revolution in 1999 and leaving in 2004. I came in 2008 and then again in 2010. The Author lives in the Marmures. Falls in love with a gypsy girl, living with the gypsies and having a child ( he only finds out about him when he has returned to the UK).
Blacker paints a picture of a land still in places almost medieval - work practices, clothing, attitudes. I have to say that I saw little of this except in passing through villages in Transylvania.
The writing style is an easy one. I was reminded at times of two books I had read before. Firstly, Laurie Lee’s ‘As I walked out one summer morning,’ and his walk through Spain during the Spanish Civil War. And also ‘A year in Tibet: A voyage of Discovery’ by Sun Shuyun. Both capturing snapshots of past time and people.
Some lovely black and white photos in Blacker’s book that reinforce the feeling of a long gone time. Prince Charles now King also chose this as one of his 5 favourite books. Charles has a long association with Romania.
October 12, 2017
Durante un viaggio nell’Europa dell’est, subito dopo il crollo del Muro, il giovane inglese Blacker approda casualmente in Transilvania e scopre che quello è il posto in cui vuole vivere.
"Avevo trovato l’Europa orientale fantasticata da bambino leggendo le favole russe: quella dei capanni di legno ai margini di foreste popolate da lupi e orsi, con la neve, le slitte, le giacche di pecora, le bluse ricamate, le donne col fazzoletto in testa. Pensavo di essere nato troppo tardi per poter incontrare da qualche parte la vita contadina descritta da Tolstoj e Hardy, ma mi ero sbagliato. Ecco i resti di un mondo antico, un mondo medioevale, isolato grazie alle montagne e alla foresta che avevo appena attraversato."
Vi si fermerà vent’anni, dividendosi tra il mondo contadino del distretto settentrionale di Maramures e le terre a sud delle montagne, la Terra dei Sassoni e degli zingari. Metterà su casa con una ragazza zingara, imparerà a coltivare la terra ed allevare pecore, si scontrerà (con aplomb molto britannico, devo dire) contro pregiudizi, malocchio, polizia corrotta, e assisterà alla trasformazione di quel mondo, al suo lento ma inevitabile sfaldarsi al contatto con la modernità.
"La sera scendemmo al villaggio attraverso i frutteti, con le zappe e le gerle in spalla. Ero stanco e pensieroso. Mi chiedevo quanto tempo sarebbe passato prima che quelle strisce di terra fossero abbandonate; quanto, prima che la gran parte della gente di Breb fosse attratta dal lavoro all’estero o nelle fabbriche delle città, e le case dei villaggi diventassero le seconde case di cittadini bianchi come lenzuola. Allora qualcuno di loro sarebbe passato vicino ai campi che noi fino a poco prima avevamo lavorato e avrebbe detto: “Guarda! Vedi quelle strisce di terra in rilievo? Sono i resti dell’agricoltura medioevale”."
Ma sulle strade polverose del villaggio, il piccolo Costantin -suo figlio- insegue instancabile le anatre, si diverte ad osservare i cavalli e le vacche che tornano dal pascolo. A questo bambino metà zingaro e metà inglese, nato da un incontro interculturale molto ardito, Blacker affida il compito di fornire una piccola, vivente, speranza di continuità tra passato e futuro.
Il libro era molto caro a Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Ed in effetti è un gran bel libro, e adesso è un po' caro anche a me.
"Avevo trovato l’Europa orientale fantasticata da bambino leggendo le favole russe: quella dei capanni di legno ai margini di foreste popolate da lupi e orsi, con la neve, le slitte, le giacche di pecora, le bluse ricamate, le donne col fazzoletto in testa. Pensavo di essere nato troppo tardi per poter incontrare da qualche parte la vita contadina descritta da Tolstoj e Hardy, ma mi ero sbagliato. Ecco i resti di un mondo antico, un mondo medioevale, isolato grazie alle montagne e alla foresta che avevo appena attraversato."
Vi si fermerà vent’anni, dividendosi tra il mondo contadino del distretto settentrionale di Maramures e le terre a sud delle montagne, la Terra dei Sassoni e degli zingari. Metterà su casa con una ragazza zingara, imparerà a coltivare la terra ed allevare pecore, si scontrerà (con aplomb molto britannico, devo dire) contro pregiudizi, malocchio, polizia corrotta, e assisterà alla trasformazione di quel mondo, al suo lento ma inevitabile sfaldarsi al contatto con la modernità.
"La sera scendemmo al villaggio attraverso i frutteti, con le zappe e le gerle in spalla. Ero stanco e pensieroso. Mi chiedevo quanto tempo sarebbe passato prima che quelle strisce di terra fossero abbandonate; quanto, prima che la gran parte della gente di Breb fosse attratta dal lavoro all’estero o nelle fabbriche delle città, e le case dei villaggi diventassero le seconde case di cittadini bianchi come lenzuola. Allora qualcuno di loro sarebbe passato vicino ai campi che noi fino a poco prima avevamo lavorato e avrebbe detto: “Guarda! Vedi quelle strisce di terra in rilievo? Sono i resti dell’agricoltura medioevale”."
Ma sulle strade polverose del villaggio, il piccolo Costantin -suo figlio- insegue instancabile le anatre, si diverte ad osservare i cavalli e le vacche che tornano dal pascolo. A questo bambino metà zingaro e metà inglese, nato da un incontro interculturale molto ardito, Blacker affida il compito di fornire una piccola, vivente, speranza di continuità tra passato e futuro.
Il libro era molto caro a Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Ed in effetti è un gran bel libro, e adesso è un po' caro anche a me.
November 1, 2010
What a lovely book. Stylistically, William Blacker is not a great writer, but he makes up for any lack in that department with his obvious love for rural Romania, the country that he adopted as his home almost by accident. His descriptions of rural life evoke a lifestyle which disappeared centuries ago in other parts of Europe. It's startling to think that peasants continued living this simple, self-sufficient life throughout the massive upheavals of the 20th century -- making their own tools, clothes, and furniture with simple hand tools, keeping pigs, travelling by horse and cart, using money only to buy the odd bit of salt or sugar. This community survived Nazism and Communism, but it looks as if capitalism will finish it off in a generation. This quote summed it up for me:
His good fortune in meeting Mihai and Maria, effectively becoming the son they never had, is remarkable, and I was moved to tears at the end.
His other encounters are with gypsies, whom he gets closer to than most other non-gypsies, looking beyond the stereotypes to find real human beings. Glancingly, the book does evoke some of the upheavals that resulted in these Romanian gypsies wandering throughout Europe, where they suffer as much prejudice as they do at home.
(edit) Further thoughts: I read a review on Amazon that criticised Blacker for his simplistic dichotomy of "old ways good, new ways bad" and for not discussing the political situation in Romania. But I think that's a book for someone else to write. Here, William truly seems bewitched by the place and the people he meets (well, he does visit a white witch!) and the broader situation in the country completely passes him by in his remote valley: he is simply living life as he finds it.
Highly recommended.
In the evening we came down from the hill through the orchards with hoes and baskets on our shoulders. I was tired and in reflective mood. How long would it be, I wondered, before these strips were abandoned? How long would it be before most of the people of Breb were lured away to work abroad or in factories in the towns, and the village houses became the holiday homes of whey-faced city dwellers? Then some of those city-dwellers might pass by the fields where we had just been working and would say to each other, "Look! You see those raised strips? They are the remnants of the old medieval field system."
His good fortune in meeting Mihai and Maria, effectively becoming the son they never had, is remarkable, and I was moved to tears at the end.
His other encounters are with gypsies, whom he gets closer to than most other non-gypsies, looking beyond the stereotypes to find real human beings. Glancingly, the book does evoke some of the upheavals that resulted in these Romanian gypsies wandering throughout Europe, where they suffer as much prejudice as they do at home.
(edit) Further thoughts: I read a review on Amazon that criticised Blacker for his simplistic dichotomy of "old ways good, new ways bad" and for not discussing the political situation in Romania. But I think that's a book for someone else to write. Here, William truly seems bewitched by the place and the people he meets (well, he does visit a white witch!) and the broader situation in the country completely passes him by in his remote valley: he is simply living life as he finds it.
Highly recommended.
August 28, 2010
This book, as well as Patrick Leigh Fermor's Between the woods and the water, make me feel lucky to be ever-so-slightly initiated into the world of Romania. However, two things irritated me while reading:
1. Blacker uses foreshadowing frequently. To me, his lines at the end of chapters, something akin to "...and little did I know how this would play part later in my story..." came across as a sign of the author's lack of confidence in his own prose. I didn't need them. His writing is beautiful enough to keep me reading. Leave the foreshadowing to Dan Brown. But as a book that is completely accessible and a pleasure to read aloud, the foreshadowing is a nice device for eager-eyed listeners and somewhat Hobitesc.
Blacker also uses this device to emphasize how surprised he is at how often the ethnic Romanians (whatever that means) blame the gypsies for crimes that they themselves commit. I still don't like it.
2. Blacker constantly laments the end of the idyllic provincial life he came across in the 90s and early 2000s in Maramures and Transylvania. Perhaps my agitation with these passages speaks more of my own confusion on the subject rather than a fault in the writing or narrative. I agree completely with his premise that happiness does not lie in the new materialism of a global age and can rather be found more abundantly in producing your own vegetables to see you through the long winter. I guess it boils down to me feeling millennial white man's guilt, i.e. that my consumer decisions in Salt Lake City somehow contribute to the destruction of Saxon villages, and that I am unable to do anything about it.
Blacker tells stories of gorgeous moments lazing in hay fields in the summer gloaming that make me want to move to Transylvania, own a home and live the simple beautiful life he describes. While traveling in Transylvania I have been mistaken as a Saxon. This story makes me believe that perhaps I could run away and become one.
1. Blacker uses foreshadowing frequently. To me, his lines at the end of chapters, something akin to "...and little did I know how this would play part later in my story..." came across as a sign of the author's lack of confidence in his own prose. I didn't need them. His writing is beautiful enough to keep me reading. Leave the foreshadowing to Dan Brown. But as a book that is completely accessible and a pleasure to read aloud, the foreshadowing is a nice device for eager-eyed listeners and somewhat Hobitesc.
Blacker also uses this device to emphasize how surprised he is at how often the ethnic Romanians (whatever that means) blame the gypsies for crimes that they themselves commit. I still don't like it.
2. Blacker constantly laments the end of the idyllic provincial life he came across in the 90s and early 2000s in Maramures and Transylvania. Perhaps my agitation with these passages speaks more of my own confusion on the subject rather than a fault in the writing or narrative. I agree completely with his premise that happiness does not lie in the new materialism of a global age and can rather be found more abundantly in producing your own vegetables to see you through the long winter. I guess it boils down to me feeling millennial white man's guilt, i.e. that my consumer decisions in Salt Lake City somehow contribute to the destruction of Saxon villages, and that I am unable to do anything about it.
Blacker tells stories of gorgeous moments lazing in hay fields in the summer gloaming that make me want to move to Transylvania, own a home and live the simple beautiful life he describes. While traveling in Transylvania I have been mistaken as a Saxon. This story makes me believe that perhaps I could run away and become one.
January 8, 2022
I couldn't have picked a better book to start the new year! What a lovely experience, to see your own country through the eyes of a foreigner :) Reading the adventures of Blacker in Maramures after the Revolution, in the 90s, made me appreciate the Romanian culture, beliefs and the well preserved traditions, that I so mistakenly took for granted or even at times felt ashamed of. Do yourself a favour and go grab this book, you will not regret it!
September 22, 2018
Many of us dream of escaping the hectic life of city-living and spending our days somewhere where life is simple yet meaningful in a beautiful location faraway. This story is about someone who made that dream a reality...
A British man falls in love with an old-fashioned rural community in the Maramures region of Romania whilst traveling and returns years later to experience life there for a decade.
The hospitality is incredible and the countryside is picturesque. The traditions are intriguing. He stays with an old couple who take him in as a grown son, learning their ways and inculcating himself in their charming ways. He interacts with the gypsies in the area and forms some lasting relationships.
The author comes across as a gentle, intelligent man who likes to focus on the positives despite life’s challenges. He is open and adaptable to new ideas and ways. He is an ambassador for travel to Romania.
The prose is delectable. You just feel so happy reading about the descriptions given, even for parts that are just a mere observation of something inconsequential. Two of my favorite paragraphs are as follows:
“Everywhere there were men and women in smocks busy buying, selling, bargaining, shrugging shoulders, licking their forefingers and slowly counting money note by note. On the ground were lines of wooden boxes in which piles of contented piglets, noses twitching as they dreamt of delicious meals to come, lay snuggled up to their little pink siblings.”
“During those days one of the ducks went missing, and although we never found her, we did find her nest. In it were eight eggs and we persuaded a broody hen to take them on. Before long the eggs hatched and the hen became the proud mother to eight ducklings, and looked furiously at anyone who dared to come too close. All went well for a few days until, to the hen’s great alarm, all her ‘chicks’ jumped into the stream and started swimming and splashing about happily in the summer sunshine. The hen was thrown into confusion. For days she walked up and down the bank, clucking and fretting and calling to her chicks to see sense and return to dry land.”
I will read this book again sometime.
I can easily recommend this book to everyone. Particularly people who enjoy easy-reading travel memoirs and stories about faraway places.
A British man falls in love with an old-fashioned rural community in the Maramures region of Romania whilst traveling and returns years later to experience life there for a decade.
The hospitality is incredible and the countryside is picturesque. The traditions are intriguing. He stays with an old couple who take him in as a grown son, learning their ways and inculcating himself in their charming ways. He interacts with the gypsies in the area and forms some lasting relationships.
The author comes across as a gentle, intelligent man who likes to focus on the positives despite life’s challenges. He is open and adaptable to new ideas and ways. He is an ambassador for travel to Romania.
The prose is delectable. You just feel so happy reading about the descriptions given, even for parts that are just a mere observation of something inconsequential. Two of my favorite paragraphs are as follows:
“Everywhere there were men and women in smocks busy buying, selling, bargaining, shrugging shoulders, licking their forefingers and slowly counting money note by note. On the ground were lines of wooden boxes in which piles of contented piglets, noses twitching as they dreamt of delicious meals to come, lay snuggled up to their little pink siblings.”
“During those days one of the ducks went missing, and although we never found her, we did find her nest. In it were eight eggs and we persuaded a broody hen to take them on. Before long the eggs hatched and the hen became the proud mother to eight ducklings, and looked furiously at anyone who dared to come too close. All went well for a few days until, to the hen’s great alarm, all her ‘chicks’ jumped into the stream and started swimming and splashing about happily in the summer sunshine. The hen was thrown into confusion. For days she walked up and down the bank, clucking and fretting and calling to her chicks to see sense and return to dry land.”
I will read this book again sometime.
I can easily recommend this book to everyone. Particularly people who enjoy easy-reading travel memoirs and stories about faraway places.
June 13, 2013
Loved it! Loved it!
An elegaic memoir of a vanishing country and people, including its much-maligned gypsy communities. Now I know why that poem remembered from childhood went something like
" Now and then I wish I could
Live with the gypsies in the wood'
It did NOT leave me dry-eyed...
An elegaic memoir of a vanishing country and people, including its much-maligned gypsy communities. Now I know why that poem remembered from childhood went something like
" Now and then I wish I could
Live with the gypsies in the wood'
It did NOT leave me dry-eyed...
November 28, 2015
An extraordinary achievement. The author has managed to turn the tale of his few years of living amongst the gypsies of Romania into an exposition of Romania and all that goes on in the countryside. Life there is observed with extreme acuteness for someone of his age (then), and the reader is whirled through the events/love affairs/family altercations as he lives with various Romanian and gypsy families and becomes highly involved in what goes on.He even marries one of them after an affair with her sister and has a child.
Exquisitely written, one is held enthralled by his descriptions and becomes drawn into the local scandals, and in-fighting between neighbours, and the corruption the the country's authorities.
Highly recommended.
Exquisitely written, one is held enthralled by his descriptions and becomes drawn into the local scandals, and in-fighting between neighbours, and the corruption the the country's authorities.
Highly recommended.
April 10, 2025
Wanneer William Blacker eind jaren '80 na de val van de muur zover mogelijk Oost-Europa in reist, belandt hij in Roemenië en verliest zijn hart aan de mensen en het leven in district Maramureș. Ingesloten tussen bergketens, wordt er tot zijn verbazing Duits gesproken door de bewoners van de kleine dorpen: de zogenaamde 'Zevenburger Saksen' die zich in de 12de en 13de eeuw in Roemenië vestigden en hun cultuur en levenswijze eeuwenlang bewaarden. Blacker heeft geen hoge hoed op van het moderne leven en besluit al snel naar Roemenië terug te keren en daar een leven op te bouwen.
In het eerste deel van het boek maken we kennis met de agrarische en zelfvoorzienende levenswijze van de Saksen en hun Roemeense buren en het verlangen van William Blacker om er zich te vestigen. De liefde voor de agrarische levensstijl en het respect voor de bewoners die daar al eeuwenlang hun plan trekken, spat van de bladzijdes en maken het boek vlot leesbaar. We leren de dorpen en hun bewoners kennen en proeven mee van hun traditionele rites, geloofsovertuigingen, visies en gewoontes.
Zelden hebben we bladzijden gelezen die ons meer raakten dan de 17 bladzijden die het hoofdstuk "A double wedding" telt. De manier waarop cultuur, religie, modernisme en oprechte zorg voor elkaar in de kleine gemeenschap in dat hoofdstuk verweven zijn, bezorgden ons kippenvel, ongemak en begrip en lieten ons diep ge- en ontroerd achter. Heftig en bloedmooi.
In de tweede helft van het boek kiest Blacker ervoor om samen te gaan leven met Marishka, een zigeunerin in wiens ogen hij verdrinkt en wiens zuster hem eerder afgewezen had. Hoewel we nog steeds mee leren en lezen over de lokale levenswijze, gaat Blacker hier vooral door op de spanningen tussen de zigeuners en de lokale bevolking en zijn conflict met het modernisme dat ook hier onafwendbaar het leven verandert. De Saksen hebben hun levensstijl na 800 jaar opgegeven en de lokale bevolking maakt steeds meer kennis met de wereld buiten het dorp. Marishka en Blacker worden intussen geconfronteerd met haat, onrecht en geweld terwijl ze hun leven uit proberen te bouwen.
Vanaf dan sluipt er een andere tragiek en ook wat ongemak in het boek: sommige stukken voelen wat voyeuristisch (misschien voor anderen: openhartig) aan en de toon die Blacker perfect weet te treffen in zijn beschrijvende stukken van de levenswijze van anderen, blijft omwille van zijn nauwe betrokkenheid niet altijd overeind in dit deel.
Het boek sluit open en oprecht af en is een zeldzame combinatie van tijdsdocument, reisverhaal, persoonlijke kroniek en sociaal portret. Vlot leesbaar en bijwijlen beklijvend.
PS: dank aan Olaf Tempelman om de titel in zijn boek 'De kunst van het missen' op te nemen, zo kwamen we het op het spoor.
In het eerste deel van het boek maken we kennis met de agrarische en zelfvoorzienende levenswijze van de Saksen en hun Roemeense buren en het verlangen van William Blacker om er zich te vestigen. De liefde voor de agrarische levensstijl en het respect voor de bewoners die daar al eeuwenlang hun plan trekken, spat van de bladzijdes en maken het boek vlot leesbaar. We leren de dorpen en hun bewoners kennen en proeven mee van hun traditionele rites, geloofsovertuigingen, visies en gewoontes.
Zelden hebben we bladzijden gelezen die ons meer raakten dan de 17 bladzijden die het hoofdstuk "A double wedding" telt. De manier waarop cultuur, religie, modernisme en oprechte zorg voor elkaar in de kleine gemeenschap in dat hoofdstuk verweven zijn, bezorgden ons kippenvel, ongemak en begrip en lieten ons diep ge- en ontroerd achter. Heftig en bloedmooi.
In de tweede helft van het boek kiest Blacker ervoor om samen te gaan leven met Marishka, een zigeunerin in wiens ogen hij verdrinkt en wiens zuster hem eerder afgewezen had. Hoewel we nog steeds mee leren en lezen over de lokale levenswijze, gaat Blacker hier vooral door op de spanningen tussen de zigeuners en de lokale bevolking en zijn conflict met het modernisme dat ook hier onafwendbaar het leven verandert. De Saksen hebben hun levensstijl na 800 jaar opgegeven en de lokale bevolking maakt steeds meer kennis met de wereld buiten het dorp. Marishka en Blacker worden intussen geconfronteerd met haat, onrecht en geweld terwijl ze hun leven uit proberen te bouwen.
Vanaf dan sluipt er een andere tragiek en ook wat ongemak in het boek: sommige stukken voelen wat voyeuristisch (misschien voor anderen: openhartig) aan en de toon die Blacker perfect weet te treffen in zijn beschrijvende stukken van de levenswijze van anderen, blijft omwille van zijn nauwe betrokkenheid niet altijd overeind in dit deel.
Het boek sluit open en oprecht af en is een zeldzame combinatie van tijdsdocument, reisverhaal, persoonlijke kroniek en sociaal portret. Vlot leesbaar en bijwijlen beklijvend.
PS: dank aan Olaf Tempelman om de titel in zijn boek 'De kunst van het missen' op te nemen, zo kwamen we het op het spoor.
July 17, 2022
Una autobiografia che sembra una sorta di fiaba, anche data l'ambientazione: una Romania appena uscita dagli anni del comunismo e che mostra ancora stili di vita risalenti probabilmente al medioevo.
L'autore rimane affascinato dalle popolazioni del Maramures e delle Terre Sassoni (in Transilvania), e finisce per stabilircisi definitivamente.
Molto belle le descrizioni dei legami che l'autore instaura con contadini rumeni e zigani, anche se forse il tutto rimane un po' superficiale.
In ogni caso sembra incredibile pensare a qualcuno che possa finire per cambiare il suo stile di vita e andare a vivere in luoghi così remoti al giorno d'oggi.
L'autore rimane affascinato dalle popolazioni del Maramures e delle Terre Sassoni (in Transilvania), e finisce per stabilircisi definitivamente.
Molto belle le descrizioni dei legami che l'autore instaura con contadini rumeni e zigani, anche se forse il tutto rimane un po' superficiale.
In ogni caso sembra incredibile pensare a qualcuno che possa finire per cambiare il suo stile di vita e andare a vivere in luoghi così remoti al giorno d'oggi.
December 14, 2013
Having had high hopes for this book, I was fairly disappointed by the end of it, mainly for the protaganists inserting himself into the story making himself seem like some kind of gypsy liberator. i found disturbing echoes of colonialism in his writing. Other than that, the book was an interesting insight into the lives of those in eastern europe and the roma, but so much more could have been said.
February 11, 2024
Enjoyable read especially if you’ve visited or spent time in the Romanian countryside! It is a very true depiction, and very well written. As a fellow Brit living in a Romanian village I am so glad I found this book! Thank you for writing it and sharing your story.
March 18, 2011
Loved it. Unsurprising as am a fan of Patrick Lee Fermor. I enjoyed the first half the best - for otherworldly details of the charming (and hard working) life that the rural Romanian folk were living.
August 7, 2018
This is a truly original book, falls within the travel (& self-discovery through a different culture) category. Came across this in Daunt Marylebone's very special bookstore last week, my eye was caught by the title, a line from a famous Patrick Kavanagh love poem, when I read it was about Romania and the gypsies there, I invested straight away! If you like books about central Europe in the 20th cent , this is a must I feel.
William Blacker found himself in Romania shortly after the Berlin Wall fell. Captivated by the countryside and the unusual mix of people and cultures that impacted this country, he decides to take a risk and move there. Thus begins a wonderful (true!) & moving account of his rural life with almost adoptive parents Mihai & Maria in Breb, where he experiences ancient and dying Maramures culture and his other life in Halma with his adoptive gypsy family, including his bitter sweet romance with the enigmatic Marishka. I was expecting more of the latter rather than the former and it his about half way through the book before his story of gypsy life takes off, nevertheless it is so worth the wait, when you do get there.
I could not believe his accounts of life in Breb! I am so shocked that the country-side was so pre-industrial. It is like reading about agriculture in the 1600-1700's! That really surprises me and I do feel that I will have to ask a Romanian friend about this. Blacker is also so guilty of over-romanticizing what must be an incredibly tough peasant life. As the book goes on he is really sad that progress comes to the town but that's got to be a good thing for the locals who have no choice but to live there, unlike him who has a modern life in the UK to fall back. That grated on me a bit but he really is fascinated by their way of life and throws himself into it.
The other story is of course how he becomes intertwined with Marishka and her family. It is amazing how you feel like you get an 'in' to their culture via his experience but I did feel on some level he wasn't 100 per cent accepted by them nor could he accept their ways and the ending ultimately confirms this. The ending itself wasn't fully elaborated on. I would have liked more information on his personal circumstances and what led him to do what. Having said this I thought the gypsies' difficult position in modern society was clearly and sensitively explained.
I was very taken with the stories of the Romanian Saxons, I had heard of these people before but did not realise that they existed up until modern times. The fate of their ancient culture is really sad! Their story is the kind of thing that makes me obsessed with European literature and history.
A major highlight of this book for me was the exposition of the traditions, superstitions and religious ceremonies in Romania. There were like something out of the darkest fairytales. My heart broke at the wedding funeral of the young men and when Marishka found the doomed artefacts from the witch.
This is an enlightening read and was incredibly rewarding!
William Blacker found himself in Romania shortly after the Berlin Wall fell. Captivated by the countryside and the unusual mix of people and cultures that impacted this country, he decides to take a risk and move there. Thus begins a wonderful (true!) & moving account of his rural life with almost adoptive parents Mihai & Maria in Breb, where he experiences ancient and dying Maramures culture and his other life in Halma with his adoptive gypsy family, including his bitter sweet romance with the enigmatic Marishka. I was expecting more of the latter rather than the former and it his about half way through the book before his story of gypsy life takes off, nevertheless it is so worth the wait, when you do get there.
I could not believe his accounts of life in Breb! I am so shocked that the country-side was so pre-industrial. It is like reading about agriculture in the 1600-1700's! That really surprises me and I do feel that I will have to ask a Romanian friend about this. Blacker is also so guilty of over-romanticizing what must be an incredibly tough peasant life. As the book goes on he is really sad that progress comes to the town but that's got to be a good thing for the locals who have no choice but to live there, unlike him who has a modern life in the UK to fall back. That grated on me a bit but he really is fascinated by their way of life and throws himself into it.
The other story is of course how he becomes intertwined with Marishka and her family. It is amazing how you feel like you get an 'in' to their culture via his experience but I did feel on some level he wasn't 100 per cent accepted by them nor could he accept their ways and the ending ultimately confirms this. The ending itself wasn't fully elaborated on. I would have liked more information on his personal circumstances and what led him to do what. Having said this I thought the gypsies' difficult position in modern society was clearly and sensitively explained.
I was very taken with the stories of the Romanian Saxons, I had heard of these people before but did not realise that they existed up until modern times. The fate of their ancient culture is really sad! Their story is the kind of thing that makes me obsessed with European literature and history.
A major highlight of this book for me was the exposition of the traditions, superstitions and religious ceremonies in Romania. There were like something out of the darkest fairytales. My heart broke at the wedding funeral of the young men and when Marishka found the doomed artefacts from the witch.
This is an enlightening read and was incredibly rewarding!
April 5, 2021
Mixed feelings. Blacker (from the south of England) has romantic notions about agriculture, peasant life and hard physical labour. He decides to spend time in a remote area of Romania that is still bound by the "old ways" - draft animals, pre-industrial tools, harsh religion and magic/superstition. He is taken in by a local couple and treated like their son. He becomes one of the "young lads" of the village. He displeases his new parents by falling in love with a young Roma girl and running off to live with her. Over and over throughout the book, he describes her as "dark" (i.e. having a dark complexion). He never becomes comfortable with her people's itinerant life. At times, it appears he cares more about saving traditional Saxon villages than about people.
I did a bit of fact-checking. Blacker was over 30 when he became that young lad and ran off with a teenager. He leads the reader to believe that he cut all ties to England when he was in contact with his family throughout.
His life in Romania was idyllic in many ways since he managed to avoid contemporary life, including the pressures to have a career, own property or be a consumer. I was especially irked that he never acknowledged the hardships of women's lives, who lived under crushing patriarchy (from their fathers, uncles, husbands, brothers and the clergy).
The book was beautifully written but there was a lot unsaid between the lines.
I did a bit of fact-checking. Blacker was over 30 when he became that young lad and ran off with a teenager. He leads the reader to believe that he cut all ties to England when he was in contact with his family throughout.
His life in Romania was idyllic in many ways since he managed to avoid contemporary life, including the pressures to have a career, own property or be a consumer. I was especially irked that he never acknowledged the hardships of women's lives, who lived under crushing patriarchy (from their fathers, uncles, husbands, brothers and the clergy).
The book was beautifully written but there was a lot unsaid between the lines.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2020
It deserves 2 stars for being well written and easy to read, but it all depends on what you want from this book. If you like the Enid Blyton style of idyllic happiness and utopian living then you might enjoy the gentle rambling, often about nothing in particular. If however you see past that sort of bravado then this book may irritate you. Personally I got to the end and was left wondering what the 'point' of it is.
This fell apart for me when I started discussing it with a Romanian friend of mine who dismissed some of the most interesting insights as 'inaccurate'.
Even so, the dialogue (when applied) is written as if to resemble fiction which affects authenticity for me and makes me suspicious of 'truth stretching' based on real events. I found myself never really rooting for the narrator who slowly turns from a naïve amateur to a smug expert whilst rambling to bump-up the word count. Chapter 15 in particular was when the narrator began losing my support (no spoilers).
This fell apart for me when I started discussing it with a Romanian friend of mine who dismissed some of the most interesting insights as 'inaccurate'.
Even so, the dialogue (when applied) is written as if to resemble fiction which affects authenticity for me and makes me suspicious of 'truth stretching' based on real events. I found myself never really rooting for the narrator who slowly turns from a naïve amateur to a smug expert whilst rambling to bump-up the word count. Chapter 15 in particular was when the narrator began losing my support (no spoilers).
January 31, 2021
Having lived in a little, hidden-away village during modern times, where bees were still kept, where the alpine grasses were cut by hand, where the villagers made cheese, and harvested their own grapes to make wine, I was captivated by this story of a place that seemed to exist still further back in history. From the commentaries on daily life, bar brawls, and clashes between the cultures to Blacker's romances, it was an intriguing and charming path into an almost alien world. The music and the dancing struck me most, and dragging rugs into the pastures and meadows so you could snooze and play the day away without sitting on sticks and soil... I pray some of these traditions remain today in those far-off Romanian villages. It inspired me to continue on my own road of moving along life just one small moment at a time...
December 26, 2020
Memoirs/travelogue of a British gentleman who stayed in Romania longer than he thought he would. A good introduction to some bits of Romanian history, especially of the Maramures and the Saxon voltages of Transylvania.
I liked this a lot in the beginning due to its exotism and my interest in Romania. After a while, I started to lose interest. The author's lamenting of the loss of traditional life exasperated me. How can one get an education if they have to work in the field all the time? What about the women? Furthermore, he sometimes seems apologetic towards his own lesser actions and likes to portray himself as some kind of saviour (which maybe he was, but it was a bit uneven).
I liked this a lot in the beginning due to its exotism and my interest in Romania. After a while, I started to lose interest. The author's lamenting of the loss of traditional life exasperated me. How can one get an education if they have to work in the field all the time? What about the women? Furthermore, he sometimes seems apologetic towards his own lesser actions and likes to portray himself as some kind of saviour (which maybe he was, but it was a bit uneven).
December 31, 2020
This memoir made me want to read a more objective/scholarly account of Romania in the years following the fall of communism - so points for this book for sparking that interest. I like memoirs with little historical asides that me think, yes I do want to learn more about the painted churches of Moldavia! The customs and relationships between the Romanians and the Gypsies were interesting too. When the author got into his own personal history with his gypsy love interests, it got tedious. I was also constantly eye-rolling his idealization of peasantry and the simple life.
August 31, 2017
Mediocre writing and hopelessly romantic in the worst possible way. Desperate for Romanian peasants to maintain their ancient way of life as he toos and fros around the country and back to England.
October 19, 2019
Surprisingly well written. Great companion for my trip to Transylvania. Finished it on the flight back
February 2, 2020
This book needs a persistence to finish it. The story is slow and somewhat repetitive. It is almost as if there is no story. But the book is beautifully written, the story slowly unfolds and one almost wants to move to this life of the past still possible in Romania. I am fascinated by the gypsies, enchanted?, and I appreciate a lot every book, which reveals to me more of their way of life.
October 10, 2017
My cousin recommended this book to me. After reading it, she told me, she and a friend felt utterly compelled to visit Romania before it changed too much.
I can totally understand this. I long to go too now I’ve finished this book.
The author, William Blacker, was in Germany at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Curious to see what lay beyond, he set out exploring and found himself discovering a long-lost world in which the peasants wore linen smocks and leather-wrapped shoes with upturned toes, and mowed their meadows with hand-made scythes. Fascinated by their cheerfulness and simplicity, Blacker ended up staying for almost a decade.
Along the way he fell in love with a Gypsy girl and found himself drawn into their wild and chaotic lives, and at odds with his old-fashioned Romanian hosts.
An utterly charming and poignant book that captures a way of life that is already vanishing, as Romania opens up to the west and its rampant materialism and advanced technologies.
I can totally understand this. I long to go too now I’ve finished this book.
The author, William Blacker, was in Germany at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Curious to see what lay beyond, he set out exploring and found himself discovering a long-lost world in which the peasants wore linen smocks and leather-wrapped shoes with upturned toes, and mowed their meadows with hand-made scythes. Fascinated by their cheerfulness and simplicity, Blacker ended up staying for almost a decade.
Along the way he fell in love with a Gypsy girl and found himself drawn into their wild and chaotic lives, and at odds with his old-fashioned Romanian hosts.
An utterly charming and poignant book that captures a way of life that is already vanishing, as Romania opens up to the west and its rampant materialism and advanced technologies.
August 16, 2017
A fascinating book about an Englishman who falls in love with Romania in the 1990's and then also falls in love with two Gypsy girls he meets. This time in Romania is still much like the Middle Ages although it is after the fall of the Soviet Union but seems like a bygone century. People in the rural areas live a peasant lifestyle with traditional clothing and traditional ways. An intriguing description of life in Breb and Hamal where he learns to scythe grass, chop wood and live like the locals. Eventually, he shacks up with the older Gypsy sister and fathers a son by her. The life in rural Romania, though, is changing fast and he laments the commercialism and trash that results. A great book that I would not have found except for my trip to Norway this summer where I came across the book in an Oslo bookstore.
August 16, 2023
If I were to describe what Beatus Ille was to someone, I would most certainly describe it through this book. Romania occupied tiny space in my mind, with little to no knowledge about this Balkan country. Now, curiosity and awe about its people and culture has been sparked in my heart after reading the accounts of an English man who fell in love with it many years ago. He could describe how beautiful it is to discover a new place that feels like home, one in which no matter how distantly you were brought up, you still feel like you belong and have been born upon. Thanks to the author, Romania has been introduced to many people far away through short stories of gypsies, saxons and local villagers. Writing a book is powerful, and if you have something to share, something worth remembering, you better get yourself typing soon. Lent by Nell.
November 10, 2017
This is one of the best books written about Romania. An adventurous young Englishman settles among rural peasants, falls in love with a Gypsy girl and almost comes unstuck. However, his fortitude, modesty, and good humour win the day and will warm your heart. A true-life tale to make you laugh, weep, and wonder. William’s eye for detail and understated lyricism combine in a modern classic. Highly recommended.
August 24, 2016
Bought this book after a trip to Maramures and Transylvania. It will sound like a cliche but William Blacker wrote it with so much love that, his words come like fresh breath, so vivid, so lively and I found myself falling for Romania once more reading the book. I loved this book, felt with it and it became very dear to me while reading.
November 4, 2013
great story tale that makes me change my mind about western world moving in and discrimination.
It is a interesting way to see your surroundings through the eyes of a traveller.
It is a interesting way to see your surroundings through the eyes of a traveller.
January 14, 2015
The author is slightly mad. I heard him give a talk about his time in Romania and there's a whole lot of stuff that doesn't appear in the book. Makes for an entertaining read though.
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