A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True came out in August, but I just learned about it this week. I don't have a copy but wanted to share the title with those who may be interested in this debut novel by Brigid Pasulka.

And why do I have it on the blog? Because it apparently makes use of Polish folklore and includes a character nicknamed Baba Yaga. Yes, Baba Yaga. (And Baba Yaga has been popular recently, relative to her usual level of exposure. Once Upon a Blog has had some great posts and I've been receiving email inquiries from students about her, most of which I have no answers for, alas and alack.)

Here's the publisher's description:

The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years. Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter, Beata, leaves Half-Village for Krakow, the place where her grandparents lived as newlyweds after the war and the setting of her grandmother's most magical stories. Beata yearns to find her own place in this new city, one that is very different from her imagination and the past. Her first person insight into a country on the cusp of change--and the human toll of Poland's rapid-fire embrace of capitalism--transports readers to another world. When two unexpected events occur, one undeniably tragic, and the other a kind of miracle, Beata is given a fresh glimpse at her family's and her country's, history and a vision of her own essential role in the New Poland. With the effortless, accomplished grace of a gifted storyteller, Pasulka weaves together the two strands of her story, re-imagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one profound love affair--that of the Pigeon and Anielica--which readers won't soon forget.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review:

Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Kraków, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Kraków, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story.

And another review: First novels from Brigid Pusalka, Brian DeLeeuw, Esther Vilar and Momus

This parallel narrative of Poland at two pivotal points in its recent history begins in a folksy, whimsical fashion which is soon dispensed with for something grittier. In 1939, the small, predominantly Catholic community of Half-Village is transfixed by the courtship between a man unkindly nicknamed the Pigeon and the beautiful but shy Anielica. Anielica's brother has caused a minor scandal by marrying a Jewish girl, but as the Germans advance the Half-Villagers unite to resist the enemy. In Krakow 50 years on, a woman unkindly nicknamed Baba Yaga, mourning the death of her grandmother, lodges at the house of Irena and her troubled daughter Magda. The miraculous links that connect Baba Yaga and Irena to Pigeon and Anielica are gradually exposed in this lively book which is part satire, part fairytale.

You can also read more at Pasulka's website, including her blog where she discusses the books long creation and her inspiration as well as provides a pronunciation guide for names and other Polish terms in the book.

Overall, the reader reviews are strong along with the professional ones. So this gets added to my list of books to eventually acquire and read. Perhaps it will appear on a few of your lists, too...