Product Description

When William Blacker first crossed the snow-bound passes of northern Romania, he stumbled upon an almost medieval world.

There, for many years he lived side by side with the country people, a life ruled by the slow cycle of the seasons, far away from the frantic rush of the modern world. In spring as the pear trees blossomed he ploughed with horses, in summer he scythed the hay meadows and in the freezing winters gathered wood by sleigh from the forest. From sheepfolds harried by wolves, to courting expeditions in the snow, he experienced the traditional way of life to the full, and became accepted into a community who treated him as one of their own. But Blacker was also intrigued by the Gypsies, those dark, foot-loose strangers of spell-binding allure who he saw passing through the village. Locals warned him to stay clear but he fell in love and there followed a bitter struggle.

Change is now coming to rural Romania, and William Blacker's adventures will soon be part of its history. From his early carefree days tramping the hills of Transylvania, to the book's poignant ending, Along the Enchanted Way transports us back to a magical country world most of us thought had vanished long ago.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10017 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review

'A captivating account of love and life in Romania'

(Patrick Leigh Fermor, Sunday Telegraph )

'Warm and charming, providing a vivid picture of an immemorial culture in its final moments'

(Country Life )

 ‘A vivid panorama of life in this ‘great bubbling cauldron of magic’ recounted with humour, poetry and compassion. Enchanted indeed.’

(Wanderlust )

'A tour de force'

(John Julius Norwich )

About the Author

William Blacker lived in Romania from 1996 to 2004. He now divides his time between England, Italy and Romania. He has contributed articles and photographs to the Daily Telegraph, Ecologist, Art Newspaper and The Times.

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Customer Reviews

Brilliant memoir
Blacker has done an extraordinary thing with this intoxicating memoir of ten years spent in Transylvania and the Maramures, as an age-old way of life gradually crumbles in the face of what the French call 'grand surface', the bland advance of modernity. This isn't travel writing. It's not sun-baked Tuscan redevelopment schmaltz. It's not a lament - it's that, discreetly, too - but a gripping and affecting account of his own experience of living in this remote and beautiful region of Europe, telling a story that's almost impossibly romantic. He chronicles a near-mediaeval way of life, with its horses and witches, its casual kindness and grace, its wholeness and jealousies - interwoven with his own story - the years he spent living the peasant life, the rumbunctious affair with his Gypsy girlfriend, the brutality of the police, the cruelty and the wisdom of country life. It's all true - the photos are worth the price alone - it's funny, it'll make you cry, and it knocks Patrick Leigh-Fermor and Byron into a curiously shaped Transylvanian cocked hat.

along the enchanted way a romanian story
Along the Enchanted Way: A Romanian Story

A wonderfully crafted book telling a deeply personal and fascinating story of a land still gripped in the the rural middle ages but living alongside the tumultus events of german reunification and liberation from communism of eastern europe. This book is funny, touching and wonderfully interesting, you cant fail to be gripped by it. I read it in a little over 24 hours. loved it.

an enchanting experience
William Blacker's story of life in Romania takes the reader on a fascinating and poingent ramble through a rural experiance that ceased abruptly, in most of western Europe, post 1945. Those who remember the little pockets of tranquility that survived in the remoter places, such as Tristan da Cunha, Lundy, Ascension, Exemoor, Portugal & New Zealand, or listened to tales of such pre war idylls, will find that, until recently, many people in Central & Eastern Europe continued to enjoy that which had been stolen, by progress, in the West. A truly charming & moving read, a wonderful discovery and timely historical record. Many of the real life characters William records step from the pages as familiar as those from a deck of Happy Families playing cards.