Children of the Night
The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania
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Children of the Night
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Narrated by:
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Paul Kenyon
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By:
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Paul Kenyon
About this listen
A vivid, brilliant, darkly humorous and horrifying history of some of the strangest dictators that Europe has ever seen.
Balanced precariously on the shifting fault line between East and West, Romania's schizophrenic, often violent past is one of the great untold stories of modern Europe.
The country that gave us Vlad Dracula, and whose citizens consider themselves descendants of ancient Rome, has traditionally preferred the status of enigmatic outsider. But this beautiful and unexplored land has experienced some of the most disastrous leaderships of the last century.
After a relatively benign period led by a dutiful king and his vivacious, British-born queen, the country oscillated wildly. Its interwar rulers form a gallery of bizarre characters and extreme movements: the corrupt and mentally unbalanced King Carol; the fascist death cult led by Corneliu Codreanu; the vain General Ion Antonescu, who seized power in 1940 and led the country into a catastrophic alliance with Nazi Germany. After 1945 power was handed to Romania's tiny communist party, under which it experienced severe repression, purges and collectivisation.
Then in 1965, Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power. And thus began the strangest dictatorship of all.
©2021 Paul Kenyon (P)2022 W. F. Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"A witty and page-turning narrative full of grotesque characters." (Misha Glenny)
"Kenyon relates all this with verve [and] humour.... He patiently untangles the complicated webs of loyalty and enmity." (Literary Review)
"Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in Romania past and present." (John Simpson)
What listeners say about Children of the Night
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alastair Thorne
- 04-01-23
Brillant
I really enjoyed it - very focussed on the key geopolitical elements. I know nothing of Romania, but I found the entire book very gripping for that reason.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Yazan Rawashdeh
- 01-02-24
Excellent
Highly recommend this book. It's almost 20 hours long, but finished it in 3-4 days. Interesting all way through but especially details of the ceausescu era!!!! you cannot make such stuff up!!! crazy story excellently told and superbly narrated.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Yawn darts
- 18-01-24
Brilliant insight of a bracing history
The author combined an authoritative macro view of the country’s history with a storyteller’s eye for details and quirks. Well narrated too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lord Emsworth
- 18-03-23
Exceptional
Exceptional history of modern Romania. I bought this in an Audible sale knowing next to nothing about Romanian history and I can't recommend it highly enough. The title is a line taken from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and this book unfolds much like a gothic horror story.
Extraodinarily, since achieving independence in 1878 as an Ottoman vassal state, Romania has been a constitutional monarchy, a fascist state, a military dictatorship, a communist republic and a parliamentary democracy. Its frontiers ebbed and flowed in a similar way.
Paul Kenyon is married to a Romanian and makes good use of the family memories of life under communist rule.
This is a gripping history, expertly related. As Paul Kenyon explains, his style is historical narrative. He believes description of place and character are crucial to help readers immerse themselves in the subject matter. He transports his audience into Ceausescu's politburo meetings, through the wildly corrupt court of King Carol II, along the secret passageways of Dracula's castle, into the bed chamber of the British-born Queen Marie, and through the swastika-festooned meeting rooms of the mystical cult of the Iron Guard.
Superb
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- R
- 31-12-22
Fascinating and entertaining sweep through Romania
Having once visited Romania I was suprised by the beauty and character of the place. This book fed my interest in its history. The pace of the writing and narration made this a superb audio book for me.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Spook
- 16-08-23
A thoroughly enjoyable read
I knew little of the history of Romania. This narrative is illuminating and very well-researched, detailing the brutal transition of the country from Fascism to Communism and finally to democracy and entry to the EU.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Chris N.
- 09-10-22
Stunning💥
An extraordinary history told with great verve, humour and insight. Can not recommend it enough.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- R S
- 11-02-22
Highly recommended
Audible always ends by saying I hope "you enjoyed listening". No, I cannot say that I "enjoyed" it! For me, as an offspring of a Romanian family, the book is too heartbreaking for that at times. It is well told, both in writing and in the author's reading. The prose is often reminiscent of a thriller rather than a political history but that will probably help keeping listeners engaged.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is not familiar with my poor dear country.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Stuart
- 09-08-22
You Just wouldn't believe it.
You have to be interested in HISTORY and this books take you through Romanian History from first record up to the 1990 with a lot of information on the 20 Century which explains the Russian Influence on the country.
It does also cover everybody's friends Count Dracula
So if you want to discover a whole new world dive into this story
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Chris
- 24-10-24
Fascinating
I downloaded this with some excitement since books on the history of Romania don’t abound on Audible (Romanian history is fascinating) and I also enjoyed the author’s previous history book on Africa (Dictatorland). This book is basically at the intersection of history and entertainment, and by that I don’t mean it is inaccurate (I am not qualified to judge) but rather that the author seems to pick the periods and topics he thinks will be of most interest to the popular (foreign) reader. He starts off with Dracula, which I think is a mistake since Romanian people (in my experience) are quite dismissive of the Dracula connection and it is arguably quite tangential. The chapters on late C19 through to early communism were enlightening and fascinating. Then there is a lot of focus on communism but he didn’t cover the subsequent post-communist period in any detail, telling the story of how Romanian got to be the country it is now (which would have interested me). So overall pros and cons but this book is well worth it even if some aspects aren’t covered.
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