Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania

by Haya Leah Molnar

A singular memoir begins when Eva (now Haya) is seven years old. Her family lives... read more

A singular memoir begins when Eva (now Haya) is seven years old. Her family lives in Bucharest, Romania, in the 1950s. Eva is the only child in a household of sometimes bickering adults living under the enormous weight of Communism. Fear and doubt are the norm, making the grown-ups’ love for Eva all the more tender as each develops a distinctive relationship with this child who surely symbolizes brightness and hope. Eva discovers her family is Jewish—something that’s never been talked about—when the government gives Jews permission to apply for passports to emigrate to Israel. She becomes fascinated by her religion and is determined to learn more. At the same time, the government promptly fires the Jews who’ve applied to emigrate from their jobs, which puts her family under enormous economic hardship. Haya Leah Molnar’s compelling account of this period in her childhood ends when she and her parents finally arrive in Israel. Her vivid memories, imbued with an adult sensibility, spill onto the page in striking, beautiful prose full of with warmth and liveliness. (Age 14 and older)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2011

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