Episode 9 Mihaela Balan Larsen

Everything Worth Counting

Here’s the book summary: It's 1977 in Zimnicea Romania. An earthquake has reduced the home of ten-year old Alex to rubble, taking with it his father and his best friend. With their world in ruins and Ceausescu tightening his grip on a fearful nation, Alex's mother, Eva, must find the strength to protect her son and fight for a future beyond the confines of Communist Romania. 
Inspired by real events, this story captures the heartbreak of loss, the value of tradition, and the enduring hope of a migrant mother and son determined to build a better life from the ashes.

The only thing I would warn about is about a natural disaster and the aftermath of one. It is not graphic in this story. There isn't too much bad language. 

Link to Mihaela's book: Everything Worth Counting: A Mother and Son’s Journey Beyond the Iron Curtain (From the Meadows of Izvoarele Book 1) - Kindle edition by Balan Larsen, Mihaela. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Link to my first book Amaranth: Amaranth (The White Dragon): Davenport, Samantha: 9781639886128: Amazon.com: Books

Are you an unknown author? Please email me at theunknownauthorpodcast@gmail.com with a link to your book.

Music for this podcast is by JuliusH.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Unknown Author Podcast. I'm your host, Mattha Davenport. Today's book is called Everything Worth Counting by Mihela Balan Larson. I hope I said that correctly. It's a Romanian name. It is about 323 pages long. It was published October 25th, 2025 by BU Verywell Publishing. Here's the book summary. It's 1977 in Zemencia, Romania. An earthquake has reduced the home of 10-year-old Alex to rubble, taking with it his father and best friend. With their world in ruins and Siescu tightening his grip on a fearful nation, Alex's mother, Eva, my apologies, must find the strength to protect her son and fight for a future beyond the confines of communist Romania. Inspired by real events, this story captures the heartbreak of loss, the value of tradition, and an enduring hope of a migrant mother and son determined to build a better life from the ashes. I'm gonna preface this and I'm going to mispronounce all the Romanian names, and I greatly apologize. Anyone who is Romanian who listens to this, I deeply apologize. But besides that, this was an interesting book. I actually don't know too much about Romanium other than, you know, Dracula and maybe some Eastern European history, mostly World War II, but other than that, I don't really know much about it. And we actually read this book for my book club. We actually have an Armenian-American um friend in our club, and she helped explain a lot of the culture and what was happening during that time. Uh, Serena, if you're listening to this, you are a treasure, and please don't get mad at me. Um, mostly for mispronouncing all these names. So this book is divided into three parts. So part one is about the earthquake. Oh man, it was heartbreaking. I can't imagine this young boy losing his father and his best friend at the exact same time. I mean, he's only 10 years old. Um, and the devastation is was written very well. And I really like Alex because the narration is primarily from Alex's point of view. And seeing things through his eyes just show how much innocence is still in him, despite the tragedy. Also, the author does a great job with the food. Um, I love learning about other cultures and what they eat and it and what like what it's called and and all that. I I love that about this book. Uh part two is about um Eva and Alex trying to get to Spain because this remember this is communist Romania and it is none of it is good, uh, especially for a single mom with a young son. Um I did love part two with their new characters introduced, and there were also people trying to escape of their native homeland because of um unrest and all that, um, with different designations in mind, and despite not speaking the same language, Alex bonds with two adult men who teach him very viable lessons. Like one was, I believe he was from Vietnam, if I remember correctly, and he made these little dolls, like Vietnamese dolls, and it was just really interesting. Um part three was odd. Um now the writing star did start to change in certain sections in part two. I just didn't enjoy part three. Um, it kind of felt rash and disjointed. But all in all, I did like the book. However, this will be going into the donation pile. I do recommend this book, especially if you're curious about this part of Romanian history. It is very interesting and really gives a lot of good insight, especially in the 19th like the late 1970s. So if I have piqued your interest for this book, please click the link in the episode summary to get your copy of this book. Now to end this episode, I'm heading to another book I'm always reading and finding amazing things to read about, and that is the Bible. So today's verse is Psalms uh 34, chapter 34, verses 15 through 18. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit. So this section of Psalms is really talking about um depression. And unfortunately, a lot of people are suffering from depression. I have rare bouts of depression that thankfully doesn't last very long because I just give it up to the Lord. But I know there are many people who suffer from depression and have to take antidepressants and they just can't improve. They just can't get out of that that dark funk, unfortunately. But uh but the Lord hears those who cry out and he he's close to you, even though you can't feel him, he is there. He is there no matter what. He never abandons those who who cry out to him and just keep on keep on praying. That's what the Lord um calls us to do. If all fails, keep keep praying. All right, let's pray. And the reason the enemy is laying upon them because they don't want them to succeed, Lord. There's so much greatness in that person. If they were if they got out of that funk, they would accomplish so so much. And Lord, I just lift up all those who listen and those um in my family who may be suffering from depression for whatever reason. Um, Lord, I just lift them up to you. In your son Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's episode. All information about today's book, including the book summary, my grading system, and links, are in the episode summary. I'm also an unknown author. I write young adult fantasy and just finished my first trilogy. Also in the episode summary is a link to my first book on Amazon. You can also find my books anywhere you buy books online. Are you an unknown author? Would you like me to read and review your book? You can send me your book information to the unknown author podcast at gmail.com.