In which country did the main character of "The Dean's December" observe a political system in which the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever possible?
The Dean's December:  The book's main character, Albert Corde, a meditative academic who faces a crisis, accompanies his Romanian-born astrophysicist wife to her Communist-ruled native country, where they deal with the death of his mother-in-law.
i don't know