A classic coming of age story by a master storyteller.
Bored by religious instruction and painting lessons, a group of friends at a convent school spend their days dreaming of romance, fashion and the latest gramophone records. One by one, they give up their visions of adventure and submit to provincial life, marrying for money and status, like their mothers before them.
Plain, jaundiced Lucreția becomes the envy of her friends when Paul, a glamorous dandy, proposes, but she hides a shocking secret that will destroy their marriage and expose them to scandal.
Only Adriana Dunea, the most beautiful and talented girl in the school, seems destined for happiness with her childhood sweetheart, Gelu. But everything changes when, on a trip to Bucharest, she meets Cello Viorin, a famous composer...
The translation from Romanian by Gabi Reigh was awarded a 2019 English PEN Translates Award.
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