As the world groaned under the weight and horror of the pandemic, forcing so many of us to shelter at home, the writer in me rejoiced in the silence and the imposed isolation. I finally completed the two massive, expansive novels I had been working on for the last few…

Bucharest, 1967–1969 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 Among Lydia’s high school classmates was a young man by the name of Marcus Diaconu. He was tall and broad shouldered and spoke with authority and a disarming sense of superiority, whether to a teacher in class or to his friends in the…

Găești, 1964 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 To attend one of the best schools in Bucharest, Carmen lived with her grandmother in the old house in the city. Her parents were doctors and worked at a hospital in Găești, a small town one hour away. …

Bucharest, 1958–1962 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 Lydia and her parents moved into an apartment a few hundred yards from Roman Square. “That’s in the center of everything,” Lydia’s father said. Before they moved, Lydia had to ride bus number 37 to school. She attended the German School because it…

Suburb of Baltimore, 1992 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 “We’ll take you into the Blue Ridge Mountains to see the leaves turning,” Dalia said. “We want to see everything,” Elena said. “This is our first trip ever outside Romania. Of all places, the United States of America! …

Athens, 1977 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 The pilot announced they were landing in Athens in twenty minutes. Dalia looked down at the Aegean Sea, its surface sparkling and stretching to infinity, as blue-gray as the sky. Where clouds blocked the sun, darker shadows danced on the water. The sea…

Bucharest, 1972 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 Nicola called Virgil form Sibiu. “The passport office gave me permission to visit my mother in West Germany,” he said. “Can you believe it?” Virgil couldn’t believe it. “Your flight leave from Bucharest. Come and spend the night prior at our place.” Nicola…

Romania, Yugoslavia, 1965 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 As a surprise gift for their son Andy who was turning fifteen, his parents, Dalia and Virgil had planned a car trip to Yugoslavia. So, on Andy’s birthday, Virgil took Andy to the precinct and got him a passport. They’d leave on…

Bucharest, 1965 From A Family Album: https://alexduvan.medium.com/a-family-album-40829e212764 Virgil learned how to drive in the delivery truck of an acquaintance who owed him one. He was a doctor, but in those days, even for him it was a big deal to own a car and to get a driver’s license. …