The Land of Green Plums

“Unflinching . . . Ms. Müller’s vision of a police state manned by plum thieves reads like a kind of fairy tale on the mingled evils of gluttony, stupidity and brutality.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Ms. Müller’s rich, harsh, obsessive imagery captures the surreal beauty and the difficulty of Ceausescu-era Romania.”—The Boston Book Review

“This heartbreaking tale is bitter and dark, yet beautiful . . . Stark and telling.”—San Diego Union-Tribune

“The Land of Green Plums works hauntingly, disturbingly well.”—The Guardian (UK)

“Impressive, wholly authentic . . . a bleak fable with the flickering intensity of a nightmare.”—International Herald Tribune

“This is a novel of strong, spare poetry in translation. Again and again, its speech startles. Then it quickly sounds just right, and it becomes hard to imagine there might not have been a Herta Müller to transcribe these urgent whispers.”—The Australian

“Finally, a book that describes in precisely hewn detail what it was like to live in Romania under communism. By paying careful attention to the slightest nuances of life in Romania the book gives an accurate description of what it was like to be alive anywhere in Eastern Europe during the years of communism . . . Müller has triumphed in her honesty and The Land of Green Plumsis her testimony.”—The Washington Times