Transylvania and Beyond

Shortly after the execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Dervla Murphy travelled to Romania and found a nation both exhilarated and bewildered by revolution. Eager to explore a country that had hitherto been inaccessible to outsiders, Murphy describes in lucid detail a journey on two planes: cycling and ambling through the rural Carpathians, and exploring the mind-set of a post-Communist society in the grips of an identity crisis. She is treated to tremendous hospitality wherever she goes, and in urban blocs, small towns and traditional villages she gets to know the ordinary Romanians – the teachers, farmers, professors, factory-workers, writers, engineers, vets, army officers, shepherds, students and doctors. Transylvania and Beyond is the story of their hopes, fears and prejudices, a passionate insight into what Murphy calls ‘one of Europe’s least European countries.’