Radka Yakimov

Café "The Blue Danube" Radka Yakimov Revised edition

In Café "The Blue Danube" Radka Yakimov, a native of Bulgaria, recalls tales that are heartfelt, reflective and insightful. The communist regimes of Eastern Europe, the fight for women's rights and trying to adapt to a new life in Canada while suspended between two worlds are towering themes in this hard-hitting book. Yakimov takes her readers to faraway places. You'll meet Mrs. Bailey, who finds herself in a strange place-right in her own country; you'll learn how so many are struggling with life in the post-communists democracies while battling the consequences of totalitarianism; and you'll feel how agonizing it can be for a mother to yearn for a child in a faraway place. And of course, you'll walk through the doors of Café "The Blue Danube" where immigrants united by a common love of dancing and music can congregate and come to terms with their own circumstances, their own problems and their own regrets all while looking to the future. The memoirs in Café "The Blue Danube" deftly point out that being a newcomer can be a difficult experience, but they also celebrate what makes us all different-as well as the same.