Voices of Silence ANNOTATION
Thirteen-year-old Flora Popescu and her family find themselves caught up in events leading to the overthrow of the repressive regime of Nicholae Ceausescu in Romania in 1989.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 1989 Romania it's unthinkable to criticize the country's leader. Flora Popescu can't imagine a revolution, but suddenly daily life brings frightening changes. Some changes seem connected to a new classmate who dresses and eats better than his poor classmates. As Flora's world crumbles around her, she learns that her father's in danger and only she can save him from the secret police.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
A 13-year-old girl living in Communist Romania, whose family plans to defect, befriends a boy whose father ranks high in the secret police. "Mooney's drama tensely portrays the gray existence of a suppressed population and evokes the undercurrent of anger that eventually explodes into revolution," said PW. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)
Children's Literature - Alexandria LaFaye
In writing this novel about the 1989 revolution in Romania from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl, Bel Mooney has accomplished the near to impossible by realistically dramatizing the personal effects of a complicated war. Young Flora Popescu is learning the burdens of self-awareness as she realizes the significance of standing in grocery lines, distrusting strangers, and hiding your activities and ideas from the rest of society. Coming of age in a Communist society rocked by the fall of the Berlin Wall, Flora longs for the security of the ignorance of her childhood, but courageously faces the uncertainty of her future. This novel explores the psychological effects of political despotism and realistically approaches the difficulties of radical social change in Romania.
School Library Journal
Gr 5-8The last days of Romania under the rule of despot Ceausescu and the ensuing chaos are vividly described by 13-year-old Flora. Social instability rocks friendships at school and heightens tensions at home. Normal adolescent feelings, concern about her personal appearance, and a new jealousy of her best friend Alys's beauty are contrasted with her cravings for food. Enter Daniel Ghiban, a new student with good looks, stylish clothes, and pockets filled with candy and gum. Generous and a natural leader, Daniel quickly becomes popular with everyone, except Alys. Surprisingly, he chooses Flora to be his special friend. Meanwhile, Flora's father rails against their oppressive life. One night, she overhears him tell her mother that the only way they can survive is for him to escape and send for them later. Mooney does a fine job of depicting the complexities of friendship and the ease with which one can be seduced into betraying a parent or a best friend. Groundwork is carefully laid to make readers understand a life of shortages and lines for essentials before introducing Daniel. It is fitting that the author's description of him begins not with his appearance, but of the first lunch he takes to school. The tone is similar to that of Alice Mead's Adem's Cross (Farrar, 1996), but not as devastating. In that book, Adem's Yugoslavian family is destroyed, and the violence assails readers. In Voices, suspense builds after Tata leaves and is glimpsed in the heart of an explosive demonstration; but hope survives.Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO
Kirkus Reviews
Life is hard for Flora Popescu and her parents, living in Bucharest during Nicholas Ceauescu's cruel regime. Food is scarce, water and electricity are erratic, and the family's one-room apartment is cramped and cheerless. A new student, Daniel, well-dressed and shod, appears at school and has lunches of which Flora can only dream: meat, cake, soft bread, and chocolate. From the first, Daniel befriends Flora and shares his food, but her best friend, Alys, doesn't trust Daniel, and she and Flora become estranged. Tensions mount in the Popescu household, and in the city; Flora's father decides to flee the country and return later for his family. After he departs, the people begin to rise against Ceauescu, and fighting breaks out in the city. Many are killed, but Flora, with the help of Alys and other rebels, escapes, without knowing the fate of her father, or what role Daniel may have played in the uprising. Mooney paints a chilling picture of life under the repressive Eastern European governments of the late 1980s. Her sensitive and empathetic tale will keep readers in suspense until the final page.
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