Smuggled

Christina Shea's debut novel is the story of 5-year-old Eva Farkas, who escapes from Nazi Hungary in a flour sack and is renamed Anca Balaj by her aunt and uncle, who want to cleanse the girl's memory of everything Hungarian. But Anca is not so easily dissuaded, and she eventually returns to her homeland to embrace her past. The story is compelling, and Barbara Rosenblat's performance is masterful. Rosenblat depicts Anca's strengths and insecurities using a voice that is so natural that the listener is drawn to Anca, who remains optimistic and inspiring. In addition, Rosenblat transitions seamlessly from one character to another, allowing Shea's powerful narrative to shine. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

May 16, 2011
Shea's second novel (after Moira's Crossing) begins strongly enough in 1943, when precocious five-year-old Ãva is smuggled out of Hungary. To save Ãva's life, her Jewish mother and gentile father drug her, tie her into a flour sack, and ship her by train to Romania. There, her father's sister takes her in, rechristening her Anca Balaj and speaking to her only in Romanian. Shea then forces Anca into situations to make political points about Ceausescu, communism, loyalty, and brutality. The once-willful child becomes a passive adult, and the story charges ahead, dragging her along with it. Emphasizing Ãva/Anca's role as a victim is a carousel of unsavory lovers, including an abusive coach who breaks her jaw and a concentration camp survivor who supplements his dentist's income with "post-mortem extractions" of golden teeth. Though Shea writes vividly and has clearly done her homework, the story serves history better than fiction. Ãva's eventual return to Hungary is marked by overwrought imagery and labored plotting, the opposite of what is needed: a glimpse into this woman's soul.