The House of Spark by Luminita LaFlash
Virginia Gemanar is worried. Her boyfriend, university student Jenica Cureteanu, has stood her up for a much-anticipated date. Could he have somehow forgotten? But he had just asked her yesterday to go with him to today’s concert. Then Jenica does not show up for lunch plans with their friends Doina and Mircea later that day. Did he lose track of time, absorbed in his studies at the library? But Jenica isn’t anywhere to be found at his favorite haunt.
The next day, it turns out that Jenica isn’t at his dorm, either. Strangely, some of his books seem to be missing. And the one person there who says he’s just seen Jenica is acting a bit … suspicious. So begins the mystery at the heart of The House of Spark by young adult author Luminita LaFlash.
As the possibilities dwindle of where Jenica could be, Virginia’s worry turns to fear. And it’s not just because it’s not like him to up and disappear. It’s because it’s Bucharest, 1957.
A REIGN OF FEAR AND INTIMIDATION
Just a couple of years prior, Romania had signed the Warsaw Pact with the Soviets. The king of Romania, Michael I, had been forced to abdicate, and a Communist regime is now in power. Alongside the new government is a much-feared threat to every civilian’s freedom — the Securitate, or secret police.
It is a time of betrayal and manipulation, in which neighbors report their neighbors to the authorities, whether out of a sense of duty, a streak of retaliation, or the desire to gain local influence under the new regime. Having the wrong friend, being related to the wrong person, being seen in the wrong place at the wrong time — any of these could be cause for suspicion. Securitate eyes and ears are everywhere, and it takes very little so-called evidence to find oneself seated in an interrogation room with one of its agents.
Could this have been what happened to Jenica? He did, after all, have a penchant for reading banned books; in particular, Opinions sincères by his favorite writer, the historian Nicolae Iorga. A further search of Jenica’s room turns up some strange clues, including notebooks with what appear to be coded messages and secret symbols interspersed between the more banal classroom notes and passages copied from books. What could it all mean?
GOING UNDERGROUND IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH
Asking around could put Virginia in jeopardy. Worst of all, there’s no one to turn to for help in any official capacity. Virginia will have to rely on the connections, discretion and wits of her friends and Jenica’s closest relatives to uncover the truth. And it’s a truth that will put into question everything she thought she knew about the man she loves.
The investigation will take readers from the halls of academia to the underground hideouts of a burgeoning resistance movement to the dank cells of a hellhole called Jilava. It’s a journey full of twists, turns and dead ends. But still, Jenica’s friends and family persist.
The House of Spark is more than just the story of one group of young people facing the perils of life under an authoritarian regime. It’s a historical fiction novel that celebrates the endurance of the Romanian people through one of the darkest, most harrowing chapters of its existence as a nation. But above all, it is a tale that reaffirms that love — and determination — conquer all.
About Luminita LaFlash:
After young adult author Luminita Laflash moved from Romania to the United States, it became important to her to tell her family’s story in an effort for young readers to learn about her country. Inspired by people and events from her own family’s background, Luminita’s historical fiction novel, The House of Spark, is a story that takes place after the fall of the Romanian monarchy in 1947 and its transition to communism under Stalin, an event that fractured Romanian culture.
A hard worker with enormous determination, Luminita moved to the United States knowing very little about it. After raising three children, with fortitude and the help of kind people in her life, bringing this story to life is her American dream. When she isn’t writing about important times in her culture and family history, Luminita enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, playing chess and backgammon, and riding her tricycle.
