The Wooden Tongue Speaks: Romanians: Contradictions & Realities

This collection of short stories and poetry set in post-Ceauşescu and post-Cold War Romania takes readers on a journey through the author's home town of Brăila in the east of the country. Exiled Romanian author Bogdan Tiganov explores social, religious and political issues with insightful frankness, through an array of colourful characters and narratives focusing on this newly, supposedly liberated world. Tiganov's stories offer an honest and rounded view of immigration like never heard before: the opportunities and the pitfalls, the reasons for and against mass migration, the pains suffered, the euphoric hope and optimism, the naivety and the greed. This revised edition features brand new short stories and a new introduction from the author. Candid and exposing, this warts-and-all look at Romanian life with its dark undercurrent of wit cuts to the very heart of the country's culture.