A review by wmhenrymorris
A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park

Not enough happens for a first novel even though a lot does and one doesn't really get to know the heroine very well, especially in the latter part of the novel, and yet in some ways the way she is obscured or stunted makes sense and in the end the uniqueness of the world and the characters and the movement of the plot come together to create a whole that is atmospherically resonant -- a haunting that is achingly muddled with human weakness and ambition.

Only one quibble: I really wish the Romanian words had been spelled with the correct characters. I'm used to seeing, for example, piata (piaţa -- the ţ is pronounced 'ts') because of accommodations for the Internet, but there's no reason it couldn't have been done correctly in print.