Paper Rings

Teodor is just twenty-two, a student struggling to survive under the regime of President Ceauşescu. One day his world is turned upside down when a young language graduate, Ariella, arrives in the city at the 12th International Linguistics Congress. She is so different from any girl Teodor has met before – beautiful, bright and optimistic – and for him it is love at first sight.

But there is one big obstacle. Ariella is Italian and contact between Romanians and Westerners is not allowed by th...