Indie Reads Aloud: Tudor Alexander and "The Last Patient"
- Diana Kathryn
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Indie Reads Aloud Radio
Episode # 254
The Last Patient
Written by Tudor Alexander
LISTENER ADVISORY: MATURE LANGUAGE
THE LAST PATIENT is a sweeping historical novel that captures one family’s struggle for love, survival, and identity under the grip of Communism in Romania. Spanning fifty years of political upheaval, this saga explores how ordinary lives are shaped—and sometimes shattered—by extraordinary times.
Kostea and Clara meet and fall in love shortly before World War II. As they get married, build careers, and raise a son, the world around them changes rapidly—and often violently. From the two-bedroom apartment they are “patriotically” forced to share with another family, to Bucharest’s rampant food shortages, Romania’s Cold War history plays out in their day-to-day lives.
Kostea, a charming yet domineering surgeon, craves control in a place where party loyalists hold the reins of power. His pursuit of respect and authority threatens his promising medical career and his relationships at home, risking Clara’s love. While the temptation to break through the Iron Curtain is omnipresent, defection to the West comes with its own uncertainties. Ultimately, The Last Patient is a poignant exploration of the eternal tension between personal aspirations and love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Duvan, who publishes under the pen name Tudor Alexander, was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1950 and moved to the United States in 1977. He holds a Master’s degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. Alex lives in Maryland with his wife, Viorica, and has a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
Alex started writing in high school, and enjoyed an early success, publishing many short stories in established literary magazines. Although writing was his passion, he studied engineering and management to support his family. After the 1989 Romanian revolution, he published several novels and short story collections in Romania, including The Runners, Smoke, Planet New York, One Morning and One Afternoon, and The Visitor.
Alex writes in both Romanian and English. He tells the story of immigrants struggling to adapt to a new country and a different culture, and finding the courage to overcome the fear of the unknown. They are people who, like the author, took a leap of faith to find political and intellectual freedom, despite the heartbreak of leaving friends and family behind.
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