Join us for a reading with Domnica Radulescu, who will read from her new novel, My Father’s Orchards. An audience Q&A will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: My Father’s Orchards tells the untold story of a Romanian family caught between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia during World War II, then further oppressed under postwar Communist regimes. Blending historical fiction with subtle elements of the otherworldly, this novel offers a haunting and unforgettable family saga. The story unfolds as Corina returns to her father’s home and orchards in Moldavia, seeking to piece together the secrets of her family’s past. Told in two voices—Corina’s and her father Florin’s—it traces the intertwined destinies of the Angelescu family and the tragic journey of twin sisters, Zoe and Carolina, who were given refuge from the Nazis. Part immigrant tale, part coming-of-age story, the novel explores the harsh realities of political oppression, war, and displacement with themes that still resonate today. Yet through every hardship, a thread of fierce love, memory, and hope binds the characters and offers a path to healing and closure.
About the Author: Domnica Radulescu is a Romanian American transnational fiction writer, playwright, scholar, and educator. She holds a PhD in Romance languages and literature from the University of Chicago. Radulescu is the author of four critically acclaimed novels—Train to Trieste (Knopf, 2008), Black Sea Twilight (Transworld, 2011), Country of Red Azaleas (Hachette, 2016), and the recently published My Father’s Orchards—as well as award-winning plays. Radulescu received the 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Her first novel written in French and titled Tu viens du pays des vampires was published in France and Canada in 2025. Radulescu is a two-time Fulbright scholar and the founding director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe. She is a distinguished service professor of French and comparative literature at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.
