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That seed was watered by a Saturday Night Live sketch, not about Melania Trump but Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. It was a parody perfume advert for “Complicit: the fragrance for the woman who could stop all this – but won’t”. Reportedly stung by the bit, which starred Scarlett Johansson, Ivanka Trump told CBS News: “If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact then I’m complicit.”
Over the course of Ceausescu's rule, Nicolae and Elena constructed a personality cult around themselves, which in many ways paralleled those of Mao, Stalin, and Hitler. This cult positioned Elena as the doyen of the European scientific community and as an academic powerhouse whose publications and international recognition were the result of sustained hard work. Die Traumkarriere Der Elena Ceausescu.” Mdr.De, 5 Mar. 2018, https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/elena-ceausescu-100.html. The book follows Laura, a young lawyer, who is part of a team who go to the country of her exiled parents, to defend the wife of the dead former leader, accused of being complicit in his crimes. As her parents escaped the country, and do not want their daughter to go to defend Marija Popa, this leads to a fracture in their already fragile relationship, damaged by a lifetime of secrets. The Dictator’s Wife is published by Headline Review, and is available on Book Depository from 17 February.She isn’t a person, she’s a puppeteer. She discovers what you are, what you can and cannot bear, and uses it.’ Now 30 and based in London, Berry worked as a financial and political journalist at Reuters before becoming an author. She reported on the US presidential election in 2016 after joining the Mail Online, where her observations of the rise of Donald Trump with Melania Trump at his side planted the seed of the novel.
With a title like that, with the blurb on the covers, the comments from the author herself, I was expecting a full on exposé of the lives of the wives of the appalling men who have caused so much damage and despair in our world over the past 100 years. Think Imelda Marcos, Elena Ceausescu, Eva Peron and others - how culpable are they in the crimes of their husbands, how much did they know, take part in, facilitate. But no, disappointingly it is not about that at all. The author has been a financial and political journalist for Reuters, and through her work has had the opportunities to observe the wives of the world's powerful leaders, and hence planting the seeds for this story. But this is not really about the wife. Institute of Organic Chemistry (Romanian Academy) in Bucharest built in the 1970s. Source: socialistmodernism.com Will she ever find out the truth about her family secrets, and why her family never want her to return to Yanussia, and certainly don't want her to defend Marija Popa? The Dictator’s Wife is released on the 17 February and FYI: Waterstones & Goldsboro Books both have exclusive editions! Our client was a hypnotic blend of Joan of Arc and Imelda Marcos; both goddess and she-devil, princess and tyrant, martyr and uber-b*tch."Elena began attending night-school courses in chemistry at the Bucharest Municipal Adult Education Institute. She was soon expelled because she cheated on an exam and never received a bachelor's degree. In fact, the teacher who oversaw the infamous exam "lived in fear of his life for decades afterward" (Behr 140). A fascinating exploration of absolute power, female agency and the complexities of complicity. Atmospheric, claustrophobic and so elegantly written' ELLERY LLOYD, New York Times bestselling author of The Club
A visit to the grand Ceausescu Palace in Bucharest conjured ghosts of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu and what was known as a “conjugal dictatorship” before their unceremoniously swift trial and execution. She wanted to be called Professor Doctor Engineer, and she found no opposition at the Romanian Academy, since resistance was both futile and dangerous. Those few people who dared to resist her demands were removed from their positions. Forced international "recognition" In the fictional country of Yanussia - somewhere in the Romania/Balkans/Russia area of things, the dictator Constantin Popa has been toppled in a coup and died in the process. Because he is no longer able, it his widow Marija who is now on trial for many many crimes - theft, corruption, murder - all the usual stuff that comes out of the rotten woodwork. She has engaged a firm of lawyers in London to defend her. If she is found guilty she will be executed. The story is told in the first person from the point of view of a junior associate lawyer - Laura - who was born in Yanussia and with her parents fled for London when she was about 6 years old. The lead lawyer is another ex-Yanussian, who had been at Oxford with Marija.
The sense of place is fabulous, and the juxtaposition of the bleak streets of Yanussia where people are starving and freezing, with the opulence of the home of Marija Popa highlighted the stark difference between those in power and their people. Now I was here, on behalf of the woman whose husband had controlled it all. How much had she known? How tainted was she, and therefore how tainted was I by association?” Wow! I know this is fiction but this felt really real! The scenes at the press conference with rabid crowds surging, the violence, you could feel the rage. We’ve seen scenes this on the TV but I felt like I was in these places whilst reading, a really believable world has been created and I found myself half holding my breath at times, on tenterhooks to see what would happen next! I found myself reading faster and faster to get to the end, to find out Laura and Marija’s fates, what happens? You will have to see, innocent or not, you won’t be able to look away! You will be held spellbound by The Dictators Wife. Most of the novel is set in 1993 when Laura Lazarescu, a young London lawyer of Yanussian descent, travels to Yanussia as part of the legal team called in to defend Marija Popa, wife of the former dictator, Constantin Popa. Marija is charged with money laundering, bribery, fraud and corruption. The story is book-ended by events in 2018, when Marija dies and Laura reflects on earlier events. The story is told in the first person by Laura.
My debut novel follows a captivating dictator's wife standing trial for her dead husband's crimes in post-communist eastern Europe, and the web of lies she weaves around the young female lawyer defending her. A fascinating exploration of absolute power, female agency and the complexities of complicity. Atmospheric, claustrophobic and so elegantly written’ELLERY LLOYD A captivating story of women’s power, love and secrets. As timely and profound as it is unforgettable. The ending left me breathless’ LARA PRESCOTT, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept For Laura, the case has a personal meaning. Her mother has never spoken of the horrors she witnessed under the old regime, and remains a shadow of the woman she used to be. As Laura prepares for the trial, she realises that to find the truth, she must enter the web of the dictator's wife. But what secrets lie within? It’s definitely a book that requires concentration, but the characters and atmosphere of the book is tremendously written which makes it addictive reading.
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The beautiful, enigmatic wife of a feared dictator stands trial for her late husband's crimes against the people. The world will finally know the truth. But whose? It’s a man’s world but these women are married to the men who make this world. I wanted to explore that duality because they’re at the eye of power but it’s slightly off to the left. They’re not paid. Their role often isn’t clear,” Berry says. First ladies’ fashion choices are scrutinised in ways that would be unthinkable for their besuited husbands beyond their choice of tie colour. Conversely, not much ink has been spilled on the wardrobe choices of Doug Emhoff, second gentleman and spouse of Vice-President Kamala Harris. The characterisation is sublime, the depiction of Marija Popa in particular was fabulous. I found I couldn’t help falling in love with her in the same way as all of those around her, even though there was always the threat of her being an absolute monster. I couldn’t decide until the explosive final chapters whether she was guilty or innocent of the charges she faced, but I didn’t’ t really care, and I could completely understand why everyone wanted her attention.
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