Dreams and Shadows  by Radka Yakimov is the touching, heartbreaking portrait of the author's parents -- two unusual people who never made it out of the trap their world had become. An evocative, compelling journey towards maturity and freedom. "The prose is a pleasure to read: Yakimov has a great sense of image and narrative that fixes the reader in her gritty world. Additionally, she's a tremendous writer of the human spirit. Her empathy for individuals is great even as her criticism of institutions is barbed..While the account of conditions under the communists is fascinating, the heart of the text lies in the minutiae of Yakimov's household..The memoir accomplishes the admirable task of humanizing people who lived under an increasingly dehumanizing system...An affecting memoir of circumstance, absence, and renewal." Kirkus Review "I loved Dreams and Shadows. Not only did it give me a glimpse into a world I'd never seen before - Bulgaria struggling to keep its identity - it also showed me the strength of its remarkable immigrant author. This is a fine Canadian story, woman's story and story about the new life arising out of the Eastern-Bloc nations." Rosemary Aubert, Award-winning, internationally renowned Аmerican-Canadian author "Dreams and Shadows is a story about the lives of people trapped in the oppressive reality of a totalitarian regime. This is Bulgaria, a Balkan country, which was overrun by the Red Army on September 9, 1944 and became one of the "satellites" to the former USSR. It remained in the Soviet orbit of influence until November 10, 1989. This is a story of lost futures, struggles, survival, and quest for freedom; a journey along a road paved with broken dreams and dashed hopes. The story begins with a child's recollections: from the carpet bombings the capital city of Sofia was subjected to during 1943 and 1944, to the dramatic changes after September 9, 1944 and how they affected the everyday lives of the people of Bulgaria. It also describes the hopes and disappointments of the people affected by "the changes" after 1989: the attempt to reconnect, after a long separation, with one's country of birth, only to come to the realization that one does not belong there anymore, yet is never really emotionally free from it."