Whisper in Bucharest - Paperback

by Kiki Skagen Munshi (Author)

A novel of intrigue, nostalgia, and coming of age in Romania, first for the peasant boy and his Jewish friend in WWII then for the man as he confronts the hopes then learns of the fears and disappointments of Russian-imposed Communism. His view of life in a beloved land as conditions deteriorate under Ceausescu's iron whimsy is thrown into relief with the arrival of a new Director of the American Library in the 1980s. That, an unwanted request to work for the feared Securitate and the need to protect the world from a destructive threat upend his life.

Author Biography

Kiki Skagen Munshi is a fourth generation Californian and was raised in Southern California and in Tokyo, Japan. She attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where she graduated cum laude with a BA in Political Science, History, and Economics. After a year on a Fulbright Fellowship in India she attended the University of California, Berkeley on an NDFL Fellowship for an MA in Asian Studies-Indian History and Politics. Ms. Munshi finished her education with a Doctorate in History from the University of Bucharest in Romanian History in 2006. She held various positions in California and India including five years working with print materials for television-based courses at the University of California San Diego until 1980, when she joined the US Foreign Service. Working with the United States Information Service and Department of State, Ms. Kiki Munshi served in Embassies in Nigeria, Romania, Greece, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and India. She was the Director of the American Library in Bucharest from 1983-1987 and the Counselor for Public Affairs there 2000-2002. She retired from the US Foreign Service at the end of 2002 but returned in 2006-2007 to head a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq. She now lives in the mountains of San Diego County, California, where she writes and rides her Romanian horses. She visits Romania and India regularly. She has also written and edited a number of non-fiction books as well as a children's novel about India.