Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania (eBook)

So how does it feel when your country is transformed, but not really? When a student drives a Mercedes but your blind grandma’s pension is €7 per month? When Transylvania can be heaven on earth but scary as hell? When the front door is for VIPs and the back door is for you? When politicians drive on the pavement because traffic lights are for suckers? When you mix Thracians, Dacians, Romans, Saxons, Turks, Hungarians, French, Russians… and a Brit?“Mike Ormsby is a very good portraitist, who knows how and where to use contrast, colour, movement, and irony.” – Iulia Deleanu, Observator cultural“He’s likeable, lucid, with a big soul and a lot of humour. The English journalist offers neither a facade, nor caricature, but reality – today’s Romania.” – Adriana Bittel, Formula As“The stories are juicy, full of charm, unified by a lot of English humour.” – Claudia Craiu, Ziarul de Iasi“Ormsby’s style is clever, entertaining, and manages to condense a good deal into a very small word count.” – Damien Kelleher, www. damiankelleher. com Mike Ormsby was born in Ormskirk, England, in 1959. He visited Romania in 1994 as a BBC reporter, returned to train journalists at BBC School in Bucharest until 1997, and has been based in the country, on and off, ever since. He is the author of a two-part novel – Child Witch Kinshasa and Child Witch London. His book for children – Spinner the Winner – has been translated into four languages. His screenplay Hey, Mr DJ! was filmed in Kigali, and topped the bill at Rwanda’s first Hillywood Film Festival in 2008. After twenty years as global nomads, Mike and his wife/publisher Angela Nicoara live in a mountain village in Transylvania, with two dogs, four cats, and the occasional bear.