New Trilogy explores the rich history tied to Transylvania
Prolific United Nations professor Roberta Seret, Ph.D. infuses government secrets and stories from Romania with fiction to construct an influential and interchangeable series of self-discovery in the upcoming Transylvanian Trilogy (Wayzgoose Press, February-April 2021).
While many associate Transylvania with vampire stories and gothic architecture, Dr. Seret unveils the secrets of the legendary region with characters forever influenced by its dark past. The novels, which can be read independently and out of order, all connect by four lifelong friends who call themselves the Four Musketeers. With each book in the Transylvania Trilogy—Gift of Diamonds, Love Odyssey, and Treasure Seekers, readers are transported back and explore each part of Transylvania with a different view: a survival story beginning in 1960s Romania under its first spell of Communism, a love story between two doctors fighting a typhus epidemic, and a mystery set in Istanbul in 2013, where two friends find themselves tangled in an international laundering scheme. While each story has its own sets of political thrills, they set our heroines on a different journey to find the missing, unanswered part of themselves—the parts that which they truly seek.
The Gift of Diamonds: releasing February 23, 2021
Seventeen-year-old Mica is a determined aspiring actress living with her parents in Romania as Nicolae Ceausescu begins his reign. Her parents are covertly political and influential, which makes them a perfect target to be stopped by the Secret Police. They’re soon arrested, leaving Mica to flee the country with her father’s rare—and possibly cursed—diamonds. With her parents imprisoned, it’s up to Mica to investigate the terrorism involving Ceausescu and his nuclear business partners. Will revealing the truth to the world finally bring her the peace she seeks?
Love Odyssey: releasing March 23, 2021
As Ceausescu continued his tyrannous rule, doctor and activist Anca Rodescu is left pregnant and alone when she escapes to America, realizing her husband is not coming back for her. She stays in America to raise her child, but years later she begins to receive messages that draw her back to her past life in Romania. She returns to find the man that left their family and save him from the war-torn world he’s trapped in. Love Odyssey is a tale of love and forgiveness, woven into a deeply moving story where romance is thwarted by politics and evil.
Treasure Seekers: releasing April 27, 2021
In the final book, amateur investigators and lifelong friends Marina and Christina travel across the country from Transylvania, to New York, Paris and Istanbul to learn more about a web of crime of today’s political leaders, connecting them back to Ceausescu’s involvement in a gold laundering ploy that may have played a hand in his execution. But as they get closer to their answers, Marina and Christina are taken hostage in Istanbul. Can they escape and find the truth behind what powerful political players are calling the shots before it’s too late?
“As these four teenaged friends narrate their lives, their stories interweave fact and fiction to reveal political truths that have never been exposed before,” says Dr. Seret. “These books are a kaleidoscope of exotic colors where governmental intrigue is little known and waiting to be discovered.”
ROBERTA SERET, Ph.D. is the founder and executive director of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) at United Nations, International Cinema Education Organization and the Director of ESL and Film for the Hospitality Committee of the United Nations. She is an adjunct instructor at New York University in English and has published various articles in film review for the Journal of International Criminal Justice and Oxford University Press. Her work in the United Nations Global Classroom has been praised by various influential Americans, including Michelle Obama, Mike Bloomberg, and Caroline Kennedy. The Transylvania Trilogy is her first fiction series. She resides in New York City with her husband, and has two sons. Learn more about the Transylvanian Trilogy on its website and connect with Seret on Facebook.
The Transylvanian Trilogy will be released in February-April 2021.