The Madonna on the moon

By Rolf Bauerdick

Subjects: Soviet union, fiction, Fiction, Fiction, general

Description: "November, 1957. The Soviets have just launched the Sputnik, and communism rules in Eastern Europe, but the village of Baia Luna, nestled in the Carpathian mountains, is a world unto itself, populated with gypsy-philosophers and mysterious priests. But for fifteen-year-old Pavel Botev, this world begins to come apart the day teacher asks him to hang a photo of the new party secretary, then whispers a startling directive into his ear. "Send this man straight to hell. Exterminate him." The next morning, she has disappeared. Once a priest turns up murdered, Pavel sets out on a journey for answers - one that leads him into the frontiers of a new life. By turns grippingly realist and enchantingly surreal, The Madonna on the Moon announces the arrival of an important new voice in fiction."--Page 4 of cover.