A Long, Long Time Ago
And Essentially True
On the eve of World War II, in a village tucked into the mountains of southern Poland, a young man nicknamed Pigeon falls in love with Anielica, a girl fabled for her angelic looks. To court her, Pigeon offers up his "golden hands" to transform her family's modest hut into a beautiful home, thereby building his way into her heart. But the war's arrival cuts short their courtship, delays their marriage and wreaks havoc in all their lives. They manage to survive as part of the resistance, and at the end of the war, leave the village behind for the city of Krakow and the promise of a new life.
Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter Beata repeats their journey, seeking a new life in the fairy-tale city of her grandmother's stories. But when she arrives in Kraków in the early 1990s, she discovers a city caught between its future and its past, full of struggling pensioners and frustrated youth. Taken in by her tough-talking cousin Irena and Irena's glamorous but irresponsible daughter Magda, Beata struggles to find her own place both in 1990s Krakow and in the constellation of Irena and Magda's fierce relationship. Unexpected tragedies and miracles force Beata to open her eyes to her family's and her country's history, and on the way, she discovers a vision for her own role in the New Poland.
A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True weaves together two remarkable stories, re-imagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one family.
