num_pages: 256
description: 'Never Mind the Balkans, Here’s Romania' has been described as one of the best guide books on Romania. If you want to discover Romania with someone who knows it well, Mike Ormsby’s travel writing is for you. Whilst the average Romania travel guide provides details of places to visit, this writer takes a different approach. Ormsby gets up close and personal, blending journalistic objectivity with dry wit to craft true-life stories about the people who live in Romania: from friendly hikers and shepherds in Transylvania, to exasperated taxi drivers and bossy bureaucrats in Bucharest. Ormsby's bittersweet short stories are a quick and easy read yet offer fascinating glimpses of an enthralling land that Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Tepes - real life inspiration for gothic legend Dracula - once ruled with an iron fist.Mike Ormsby’s first visited Romania in spring 1994 as a BBC reporter. Touched by the hospitality and wry humour of the local people, he soon returned to teach journalism at BBC World Service School in Bucharest, and remained in that post for several years, writing in his spare time. Published in 2008, ‘Never Mind the Balkans, Here’s Romania’, was well received by Romania’s literary critics, several of whom dubbed Ormsby 'The British Caragiale', in deference to their beloved fin-de-siècle satirist and playwright. Ion Luca Caragiale shone a humorous and affectionate light on Romania in his era, and Mike Ormsby does the same in ours. Numerous expats and visitors have also welcomed the book as a unique and modern variation on the more conventional Romania travel guide. ‘Never Mind the Balkans, Here’s Romania’ is a memorable collection of travel writing that provides a unique insight into this irresistible country, where locals say, "Ca la noi, la nimeni - there's nobody quite like us." So, close your guide book and meet the people! Ormsby's cast of colourful characters will entertain, educate, and even enrage - it depends who’s reading.58 short stories set in Romania.
language: English
title: Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania