MATEI DISCOVERS FREEDOM

  • The story of a turbulent life reflecting the poignant drama of the European East.
  • A novel combining weighty themes with warmth and wit - a work of grand literary cinema.

A gripping story of freedom, happiness, and the temptations of revenge.

A fleeting glance in a Bucharest tram. Matei recognizes his former tormentor from prison. It is the liberated 1990s, where everything seems possible, even justice …

The young Matei grows up in the vibrant Bucharest of the 1930s, but his family loses everything under the dictatorship. Matei is sentenced for political poems to labor in the Danube Delta, where nature is fascinating but merciless, and life is harsh, sometimes deadly. The humanity shared among the prisoners keeps him alive - as does hatred. After years, he is pardoned and finds family happiness, but never true peace.

When the Iron Curtain falls and he encounters "beautiful Pană," an interrogation officer, in the new, sweeping freedom, Matei finally decides to confront the ghosts of the past. And he devises a plan.

Through the lens of one man's life, Catalin Dorian Florescu tells the drama of the European East, which continues to this day, in a richly plotted narrative filled with stirring, poetic imagery. A major reflection on happiness, revenge, justice, and the question: When is a person truly free?

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Berlin
  • Release: 13.03.2026
  • ISBN: 978-3-7371-0240-7
  • 288 Pages
  • Author: Catalin Dorian Florescu

Awards

  • 2026: Catalin Dorian Florescu ist mit «Matei entdeckt die Freiheit» für den Uwe Johnson-Preis 2026 nominiert

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Buchcover von MATEI DISCOVERS FREEDOM
Catalin Dorian FlorescuMATEI DISCOVERS FREEDOM
Portrait von Catalin Dorian Florescu
© Evi Fragolia
Catalin Dorian Florescu

Catalin Dorian Florescu , born in Romania in 1967, spent his childhood under the Communist dictatorship. In 1982, his family managed to immigrate to the West. Florescu studied psychology in Zurich and works in a therapeutic practice. He has received numerous awards for his novels, including Wunderzeit ,  Jacob beschließt zu lieben , and Der Mann, der das Glück bringt , such as the Swiss Book Prize, the Anna Seghers Prize, and the Eichendorff Literature Prize; in Romania, he was awarded the Cavalier’s Medal for Cultural Merit. Catalin Dorian Florescu lives in Zurich.