I read this book in one sitting - I couldn't put it down!! Sophie van Llewyn writes flash fiction and this is a so-called 'novella in flash' - a story made up of lots of smaller, flash fiction stories. I've never read a book with this sort of structure before and I really enjoyed it, a tale told in short, intense bursts. The narration also switches between the first and third person, which I liked.
The book is set in Communist Romania, where the protagonist, Alina, and her husband, Liviu, attract the attention of the security services when the latter's brother defects to France. As life gets increasingly difficult for the couple, they start planning to defect themselves, but there are obstacles in their way, which Alina has to remove using somewhat extraordinary methods.
The resulting book is a fascinating and at times horrifying depiction of life in Ceausescu's Romania, intermingled with flashes (pun intended) of the supernatural, folk tales and magic. It sounds like an odd combination, but I found that it worked, perhaps in some part due to the flash-fiction structure.
It's certainly a unique book - I've never read anything like it before - and it is thoroughly deserving of its place on the longlist for the Women's Prize for fiction for 2019.