Winner of the Bakeless Prize for Nonfiction, a childhood memoir of
political oppression and persecution during Romania's Ceausescu years
Carmen Bugan grew up amid the bounty of the Romanian countryside on her
grandparent's farm where food and laughter were plentiful. But
eventually her father's behavior was too disturbing to ignore. He wept
when listening to Radio Free Europe, hid pamphlets in sacks of dried
beans, and mysteriously buried and reburied a typewriter. When she
discovered he was a political dissident she became anxious for him to
conform. However, with her mother in the hospital and her sister at
boarding school, she was alone, and helpless to stop him from driving
off on one last, desperate protest.
After her father's subsequent imprisonment, Bugan was shunned by her
peers at school and informed on by her neighbors. She candidly struggled
with the tensions of loving her "hero" father who caused the family so
much pain. When he returned from prison and the family was put under
house arrest, the Bugans were forced to chart a new course for the
future. A warm and intelligent debut, Burying the Typewriter provides
a poignant reminder of a dramatic moment in Eastern European history.