A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
Winner of the 2010 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection (Fall 2009) Winner of the 2013 Polish American Historical Society Creative Arts Award National Geographic Traveler’s Book of the Month (August 2009) Elle (UK) “Read of the Month” (September 2009) 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. Kindle and Audible editions available
Foreign Editions
UK
Portugese (Brazil)
Polish
Hebrew
Dutch
French
Turkish
|
Reviews"In the finest tradition of storytelling, Brigid Pasulka's A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True seamlessly weaves together the stories of two generations of a Polish family...With dexterity and originality, Pasulka paints an illuminating and poignant portrait of a country and her people. It is a dazzling debut, generous of heart and deeply rewarding."--Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for Fiction (2010) “Pasulka’s delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. . . . 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.”--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) SEE FULL REVIEW “Artfully weaving together the strands of Anielica’s and Beata’s stories, Pasulka has penned an ingenious and involving novel so compelling that readers will be reluctant to turn the last page.”--Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Series (Fall 2009 Selection) SEE FULL REVIEW “One of the many gifts of Brigid Pasulka’s debut novel, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, is that it transports us through the outer layers straight into the heart of Poland, brilliantly evoking the country’s emotional landscape…With a passion for Poland that suffuses each page, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True rings hauntingly, enchantingly, real.”--National Geographic Traveler Book of the Month (August 2009) SEE FULL REVIEW “Brigid Pasulka’s engaging debut intertwines the story of Polish peasants whose love is tragically derailed by the Nazis and the postwar Soviet takeover, with the chronicle of their granddaughter’s coming of age in post-communist Krakow. Pasulka brings to both narratives a warm understanding of her characters’ foibles as they struggle to find happiness in a land racked by tumultuous change.”--Chicago Tribune SEE FULL REVIEW “Pasulka’s whimsical debut jumps between a couple of Eastern European villagers In World War II and their grandchild in the 90’s If that setup reminds you of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel, Everything is Illuminated, well, you’re not alone. Fortunately Pasulka has charms of her own – appealing characters and keen observations.” --Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, The New York Times Sunday Book Review SEE FULL REVIEW “A Long, Long Time Ago… And Essentially True packs a huge emotional punch, particularly toward the end as the two story lines converge. Pasulka shows her skill in these delicate sections with narrative that is touching without being melodramatic. This is a novel that will likely appeal to a wide range of readers; and those who enjoy historical fiction, have a particular interest in Poland, or who simply take pleasure in top-notch writing will certainly want to put it high on their reading list.”--Bookbrowse SEE FULL REVIEW “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…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.”--Catherine Taylor, The Guardian (UK) SEE FULL REVIEW “…Delicately written and nicely observed…The book’s closing chapters, when the past visits the future in a surprising way and Baba Yaga begins sifting through those ashes, pack a surprising wallop.”--The Onion’s A.V. Club SEE FULL REVIEW “For a book with a grounding in the gently oddball that turns dark in an equally perfect way, and a strong story completely matching the telling and teller, Polish or otherwise I recommend this book to you."--John Lloyd at www.thebookbag.co.uk SEE FULL REVIEW “The first story is, for the most part, jolly escapist Captain Corelli-style fun. But when it escapes the history and concentrates on Baba Yaga, feeling out of place in her own town now that it is awash with drunken British tourists, the book really comes to life. History is not dead – it is just fascinating to see it at work in the present.”--The Times (UK) SEE FULL REVIEW “[In] Brigid Pasulka’s accomplished debut novel, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True…the story of Pigeon and Anielica is consistently magical, and this first-time novelist has an indisputable talent for a tale well-told…Like any good host, she makes us feel as if we’ve found a small piece of home.”--Book Page SEE FULL REVIEW “For all the great literary love stories, it’s sometimes hard to imagine a new one will come along and be as moving or full of feeling as a Romeo and Juliet, or a Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, or Daisy and Gatsby. But the relationship between Pigeon and Anielica…is the stuff of great romantic epics. And this debut novel is also full of humor…thanks to Brigid Pasulka’s unforgettable writing that easily takes the reader from past to present, tragedy to hopefulness. It really feels like a true-life fairy tale.”--Glamour.com SEE FULL REVIEW “…This is no mere love story between two attractive people — it’s a love story between members of a community… Those ties, ultimately, are what her book is about — not romances between individuals, not youthful journeys–but the ties that help everyone continue to live. Her novel’s conclusion is brave and not simple, not easy, not pat–much like the people of Poland.” (Book of the Week)--Bethanne Patrick (a.k.a. The Book Maven) at the Book Studio, WETA SEE FULL REVIEW “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.” (Chosen as September 2009 “Read of the Month”)--Elle Magazine (UK) “Pasulka is not just a gifted storyteller, but a natural comic, balancing the sometimes heavy tone with deadpan humour…a well told and charming story that has an intoxicating mix of tragedy and humour, with a dusting of miracle, magic and a lot of love.”--Lisa Brady, The Post (Ireland) SEE FULL REVIEW “Full of brave patriots and eccentric relations, Brigid Pasulka’s debut novel, A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True, alternates between two turbulent periods of 20th-century Polish history…[T]he writing has an enjoyably peppery wit…while the portrait of a national character built on centuries of facing down colonisers rings essentially true.”--Adrian Turpin, Financial Times SEE FULL REVIEW “This is a heartwarming tale which begins in 1939 and slowly morphs to the post Communist era, illuminating the resilience of the Poles.”--Florence Waszkelewicz Clowes, Polish American Journal SEE FULL REVIEW Click here to see A Long, Long Time Ago in Tablet’s “On the Bookshelf” column “Essentially True is warm and charming, and it brings together a matched pair of stories about old and new Poland together with careful craft.” --Philadelphia Citypaper SEE FULL REVIEW “As Poland is invaded by the Nazis and then overrun by communists, there are human tragedies at both ends of the novel’s timescale and Pasulka is strong on the way historical events blight human lives. But there are also tales of love and loss that are purely personal and Pasulka’s theme that the human connections are ultimately all that matter is both moving and convincingly told.” --metro.co.uk SEE FULL REVIEW “In this life-affirming novel of past and present, Brigid Pasulka twines the bright colors of fable with the subtler tones of disillusionment, survival, and rebirth—incarnating not only her characters and their lives, but Poland itself. Rarely does a novel succeed so well in evoking place and history, especially with a story as winning as this one. A marvelous debut.”--Nicole Mones, author of The Last Chinese Chef and Lost in Translation “Two lives, a grandmother’s and her granddaughter’s, are knit together in a finely wrought tapestry that illuminates an inheritance of a less familiar kind. At once haunting and exquisitely vibrant, Pasulka’soriginal tale is a treasure, transcending history, time, and place.” --Martha McPhee, author of Gorgeous Lies “Grand in scope, yet meticulous in detail, Brigid Pasulka’s generous and affectionate novel finds universal truths in both its most-dramatic moments and its most-intimate observations. A compassionate, elegant, and moving debut.” --Adam Langer, author of Crossing California “Funny and romantic like all the best true stories.”--Charlotte Mendelson, author of When We Were Bad |