Excerpt – Perestroika by Joao Cerqueira
Synopsis
Perestroika overthrows communist regimes in Europe.
In the People’s Republic of Slavia, the former leaders are trying to survive the new times while their victims seek revenge.
Former President Alfred Ionescu is placed in an asylum he himself built. Zut Zdanov, the head of culture, is confronted with his child abuse. Helena Yava, responsible for education, wants to avenge her lover’s death. Igor Olin, responsible for the economy, fights for his disabled son to have a dignified life. Art historian Silvia Lenka wants to know who her parents are. Lia Kirchner, the daughter of a painter who died in a re-education camp, wants to know the truth.
Having as a binding element Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” Perestroika is a novel of revenge, redemption, and catharsis inspired by recent European history.
Winner of the 2023 Historical Fiction Company Book of the Year
Bronze Medal in the 2023 Latino Book Awards
Finalist in the 2021 Eyland Awards
Finalist in the 2021 Fiction Factory
Excerpt nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2023
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Excerpt
Introduction
Slavia is a country with an area of 40,000 square kilometres, situated between Poland, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. Its capital is Tiers. It has four million inhabitants, and its main resources are natural gas, copper, and timber. Founded in the thirteenth century, it was ruled by a succession of monarchs until 1940, when the Nazis invaded it. After its liberation in 1945, Slavia became part of the Eastern Bloc dominated by the Soviet Union.
Since 1950, on the death of the former president, Alfred Ionescu has governed Slavia. His most important cabinet ministers are Pietr Schwartz, the Chief of the Secret Police, Igor Olin, the People’s Commissar for the Economy, Zut Zdanhov, the People’s Commissar for Culture and Propaganda, and Helena Yava, the People’s Commissar for Education.
The regime controls the economy, the courts, and the forces of law and order. It uses social media, cinema, theatre, art, and sport as propaganda tools for its citizens’ indoctrination. The regime banned religion and closed the churches. Elections are not free, and neither freedom of expression nor any individual initiative is permitted, nor even the publication of books and newspapers unless a committee of censors has approved them. Citizens receive ration cards with which they can purchase goods in the shops, and they need a visa for permission to leave the country. Dissidents are persecuted and sent to labour camps for re-education, turning them into enslaved people.
About the Author
João Cerqueira holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Porto.
He is the author of nine books, which have been published in eight countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, England, the United States, Brazil, and Argentina.
He won the 2020 Indie Reader Awards, the 2014 Global ebook Awards, and the 2013 USA Best Book Awards.
