Brief Spring: A Journey Through Eastern Europe

by Iris Gioia, Clifford Thurlow

Release Date: July, 1992

Edition: Hardcover

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A travel book with a unique (I Think) difference

This is one of the few books I have read that has two authors: a New York socialite, obviously wealthy and spoiled, and a London newspaperman who is clearly used to roughing it. After meeting at a cocktail party, they set off on a journey into Eastern Europe in the Spring of 1989 - just as the Berlin Wall is coming down and revolution is spreading like a fire across the former Warsaw Pact countries. Like all good travel books, the journey is mirrored inwardly. The spoiled socialite, Ms Gioia, learns from what she sees that her Gucci shoes and designer clothes are of very little importance, while the reporter, Mr Thurlow, grows from having someone along on the journey who isn't concerned solely with the politics of the time. They write a sort his and hers sequence of essays - the best being when they write on the same subject and have completely different viewpoints. By the time they reach Romania, the two travellers are prepared for the terrible sights they see in that country and start the journey back to the UK as wiser people. I'm sure that now, some years later, they are still together. Yes, a really good read written by two sensitive and humane writers.