Memoir of a lady · An extraordinary life
The Story
Her name means “Magnificent”, a Romanian name with Greek and Hebrew roots.
Prologue
3 February 1997
Mădălina
Against all expectation
Andrew Benson was a divorced and world-weary English businessman, and never expected his life to change forever on a business trip to Romania in 1998. But then he met Mădălina.
Mady was unlike anyone he had ever known: brilliant, fiery, and ahead of her time while deeply traditional. Against all logic, against all expectations, Andrew fell madly in love. And, in time, she came to love him too, and left behind everything she knew to build a new life in England. Together the couple faced challenges that could have broken them: cultural differences, personal losses, business struggles. But through it all, their love only grew stronger.
People doubted them and judged them. But they didn't know Mady. She was a force of nature: an entrepreneur, a writer, a visionary. She built something to be proud of, a thriving online community long before social media existed. She had dreams, ambitions, and a heart big enough to change lives.
And then, just after her 29th birthday, she was gone, stolen by medical negligence. Her story made headlines: “Death of a Beauty Queen”. But Mady's life was so much more than her death.
This book, with extracts from her diaries, her writing and her reflections, is Andrew's tribute to her and to the love they shared, the battles they fought, and the incredible woman she was. Her impact lives on. And now, so does her story.
The Romanian wedding, 24 October 1999
Their wedding
Married in England on 13 October 1999, and in a Romanian Orthodox ceremony on 24 October 1999.
The wedding song
Performed live at the wedding
Ia ți mireasa ziua bună
The years
1998
1998
Romania
On a routine business trip, Andrew meets Mădălina. Against all expectation, everything changes.
1999
1999
Married
Married in England on 13 October 1999, with a Romanian Orthodox wedding on 24 October, Mady leaves behind everything she knew to build a new life in England.
2000s
2000s
A life built
Together they face cultural differences, loss and business struggles, and Mady builds an online community ahead of its time.
2002
2002
Narragansett Bay
Newport, Rhode Island. A photograph from a life fully lived.
After
After
Loss and the search
Just after her 29th birthday, Mady is gone, followed by a six-year search for the truth.
The headlines
The Romanian press called it the death of a beauty queen. Behind that headline lay a family’s six-year search for the truth, and a husband determined that his wife be remembered for the life she lived, not the way it ended.
The author
Andrew Benson was 50 and divorced when he met Mady, and had believed true love had passed him by. Although they were only together for four years, what she instilled in Andrew has lasted him a lifetime.
A retired supply-chain executive, Andrew wrote Mady's Story as a tribute, interweaving his account with her diaries and her own writing.
“I must love, it is not allowed to me to stop loving. If I could receive ten per cent of the love I want to give, I would be happy.”
Mădălina
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