Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library

A long, long time ago and essentially true, Brigid Pasulka

eng

no index present

fiction

A long, long time ago and essentially true

dictionaries

Brigid Pasulka

On the eve of World War II, in a place called Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon falls in love with a girl fabled for her angelic looks. To court Anielica Hetmansk h̀e offers up his "golden hands" to transform her family's modest hut into a beautiful home, thereby building his way into her heart. Then war arrives to cut short their courtship, delay their marriage, and wreak havoc in all their lives, even sending the young lovers far from home to the promise of a new life in Krakw.̤ Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter, Beata, repeats their postwar journey, seeking a new life in the fairy-tale city of her grandmother's stories. But when she arrives in Krakw,̤ instead of the whispered prosperity of the New Poland, she discovers a city caught between its future and it's past, and full of frustrated youths. Taken in by her tough talking cousin Irena and Irena's glamorous daughter Magda, Beata struggles to find her own place in 1990s Krakw ̤and in the constellation of Irena and Magda's fierce love. But unexpected events-- tragedies and miracles-- can change lives and open eyes. And Beata may just find a new way of seeing her family's and her country's history-- as well as a vision for her own role in the New Poland. Whimsical, wise, beautiful, magical, and sometimes even heartbreaking, A Long, Long Time Agoand Essentially True weaves together two remarkable stories, reimagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one unforgettable love affair

adult