A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True

Brigid Pasulka

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780547428475
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

PEN/Hemingway Award Winner: A "gorgeous" novel weaving together stories of Poland past and present in one whimsically romantic epic ( Chicago Tribune ). On the eve of World War II, in a small Polish village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon falls in love with a girl fabled for her angelic looks. To build a place in Anielica's heart, he transforms her family's modest hut into a beautiful home. But war arrives, cutting short their courtship and sending the young lovers off to the promise of a fresh start in Krakow. Nearly fifty years later, the couple's granddaughter, Beata, repeats this journey, seeking a new life in the fairy-tale city of her grandmother's stories. But instead of the rumored prosperity of the New Poland, she discovers a city full of frustrated youths, caught between its future and its past. Taken in by her tough-talking cousin, Irena, and her glamorous daughter, Magda, Beata struggles to find her own place in the world. But unexpected events—tragedies and miracles both—change lives and open eyes. "A whimsical debut, " ( New York Times Book Review ) A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True weaves together two remarkable stories, reimagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one unforgettable love affair. This magical, heartbreaking novel "rings hauntingly, enchantingly, real" ( National Geographic Traveler ). "With a touch of Marina Lewycka and a dash of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, this is storytelling that gets under your skin and forces you to press copies into your best friends' hands." — Elle (UK) "Funny and romantic like all the best true stories." —Charlotte Mendelson, author of When We Were Bad

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• A Faraway Land
• Golden Hands
• The Non-Courtship
• The Seven Good Years of Pani Bożena
• Czesław
• For Sale
• You Do Not Have to Talk First About the Massacre at Katyń
• Vampire, Whore, Nightmare, Witch, Piranha, Frog-Face, Villain, Devil, Sonofabitch, Shithead, Hooligan, and Halfdead
• The Simultaneous Fall, Conversion, and Betrothal of Władystaw Jagiełło
• The Festival of Virgins
• The Difference Between Matrimony and the Nazis
• Alexis, Blake, Krystle, Sammy Jo, and Magda
• The War After the War to End All Wars
• Pan Tadeusz
• The Sturm Before the Calm
• The Beauty of Stupidities
• Life As If
• The Cellar Under the Sheep
• Confessions
• The Difference Between Matrimony and Pierogi Ruskie
• And What Are We to Do?
• And What Are We to Do?
• Everything Will Be Okay
• Załatwić
• Not Life
• All Souls
• The Soviets Will Keep You Warm
• And the Puppy Too
• Life Has Become Better, Comrades; Life Has Become More Cheerful
• Sylwester
• Onward Toward the Bright Future
• Oh, I Happy. I Much Happy.
• From There to Here
• The Nazis, Soviets, Russians, Tatars, Ottomans, Turks, Cossacks, Prussians, and Swedes
• Work Just Like Stalin Taught You
• Śmigus Dyngus
• The Last Sprout on the Potato
• The Bermuda Triangle
• The Knock in the Middle of the Day
• Juvenalia
• The End to End All Ends
• The End to End All Ends
• Years Don’t Go Back; the River Doesn’t Flow Backward
• Life As If
• He Who Does Not Work Does Not Eat
• Where the Devil Says Good Night
• Solidaność
• So That Poland Will Be Poland
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author