Mihaela Stoica

Shepherd Mihaela Stoica First edition

When in the autumn of 1989, Aurea Cioban, a student at the University in Bucharest, meets Maurice Calistrat, a young lieutenant stationed on a military base in the Romanian capital, a spark ignites an instant mutual attraction that soon develops into a hot-tempered love affair. A combination of jealousy, fatalistic view points and personal ambitions of career advancement are some of the things that begin to take their toll on the young couple's budding relationship. Recruited by the "Securitate", the secret police force, Calistrat sinks into a world of betrayal from which the only redeeming thought he has is to keep Aurea safe at any cost. His obsessive protection quickly becomes the very tool used to betray the people close to them and their own relationship. Through Aurea and Maurice's inability to go beyond their emotional restrains, "Shepherd" moves into a world where one's actions are dominated by an intrinsic need to follow superstitions and deeply set beliefs stemming from a country's rich history of mysticism and folklore.