An escape to a mythical land: Arabella writes with honesty and humor about fleeing from Liverpool to a half-built wooden house 1000 metres up in the Carpathians – five miles from a shop and a world away from the urban life as a British journalist.
Friends said she was brave. Romanians were puzzled. Solitude amongst wildflower meadows sounds romantic, but there would be a price to pay. Could she survive on her own?
Triggered by a spate of family funerals, her crazy move had its roots in a troubled childhood. Aged 50, she left home, family, friends and business behind – alone, with no money, no pension, and no Plan B. Everything suggested she’d fail. But feeling instantly at home in a remote Transylvanian village, Arabella claimed her stake, and started again.
READERS REVIEWS
“You lend us your sharp eyes and understanding. You made me ask some deep questions about myself, my life, my deeds. And I do love all this in a good book. You put the very delicate mirror of truth in front of our eyes. Your book gives us hope in a world where we have lost heaven. It shows us that a tiny ray of hope can activate powers one never thought they lie in oneself.”
Silviu Schuster
“This is really fascinating writing and a pleasure to read. Loved the sheep,
Dea Parkin
laughed out loud. A reference to Lark Rise nails it: there's that kind of bucolic charm with very subtle, underlying grim pragmatism about it that readers will love.”
“Arabella is extremely sensitive to the miracle of nature, burdened by a past with light and shadow, a woman who, I think, is not aware of the charm that she possesses, being modest and reserved. A warm hug for a woman so beautiful inside and such a fascinating writer. Many of my friends will have this wonderful book for Christmas.”
Elena Amza
“Really, it’s wonderful – you’ve basically opened the door to a different way of seeing and understanding Romania – really important in this time of Brexit madness.”
Dr Maryclare Foa
“The story is simple, sad and joyful. You will be surprised that this Englishwoman has made a highly accurate X-ray of Romania and the Romanian village. Helpful and warm, she subtly encourages us Romanians to appreciate what we have next to us and to feel privileged that we still have values that have vanished elsewhere in Europe. I recommend the book because it is a tremendous ethnographic work and a colourful confession of a woman who overcame an imbalance in life.”
George Hari Popescu
“I was fascinated by your descriptions of your early life in Sussex. It reminded me a bit of The Darling Buds of May, with all those orchards. What a happy time, but what a loss when it ended. Your chapter on Ginny was painful to read, powerful and compelling as the reader joins you every step of the way as you navigate the darkest of times. I felt it all.”
Luiza Pearson
“I found myself immersed into a dialogue with you, about solitude, the energy that comes from living close to nature, the joy of being present to the sounds of the forest. A real painter, if you like, in touch with the pure essence of things and beings.”
Diana Maria Voicu
“I simply love the way in which it is written, the fact that the words can make me actually see/feel your world, is just brilliant.”
Cricket Gri
“I’ve enjoyed every bit of it – I’ve appreciated both your humour and your self-irony or the finger pointed at various strange characters you’ve come across…”
Andreea Bell
“The book is unlike anything I’ve read, full of emotion, in which the author puts her heart out for you, so it’s impossible not to be moved. And the language is so normal, alive, it’s like a friend whom you haven’t seen in a long time.”
Andra Moraru
“Today, happy to have received the book, I poured myself a cup of coffee and I started reading it and I couldn’t put it down. I will finish it by tonight!”
Cristina Tanef
“I had a ‘white’ night last night. I couldn’t take my hands off your book. It made me laugh, it made me cry or both at the same time.”
Manuela Davis
“Honest, deeply sensitive, beautifully expressed. What a fabulous book this is.”
Sarah Grant
“I am a Romanian living in ConstanÈ›a, the biggest harbour on the Black Sea coast. I dare to write you because I've recently discovered your book "Din Liverpool în CarpaÈ›i" and I find it a great read. I must tell you that I've done a little innocent 'spying' on Facebook and I am amazed by the sceneries you are photographing and sharing..... I'm in love with my country and the mountains especially and your photos simply make my day. What is more, I think you are a great promoter of our natural beauties and I thank you for that. You know, Romanians have a saying "omul sfinÈ›eÈ™te locul" = "people can make a place holy" referring to how somebody can make extraordinary things out of simple stuff by working hard and adding some passion...... well, you are doing that amazingly!”
Ramona Malos
“I liked:
Dorina Danila
– the characters, picturesque and very believable, described with a great sense of detail and sometimes irony and even self-irony (not even the author is exempt)
– very realistic way in which the author captures and describes the world of the Romanian village, with good and bad
– description of the nature of Transylvania
– the positive, engaging, sometimes funny, tone of story.”
“Arabella’s writing conquers. Drawing a striking balance holds intrigue but each chapter has its source of comedy, tragedy or the extraordinary.What I love most is the power of the images that Arabella McIntyre-Brown manages to draw in my imagination.”
Georgiana Ciofoaia
“A person, regardless of nationality, has a Romanian soul when she speaks in this way about our country.”
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