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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
Brigid Pasulka
2009, 354 pages
Setting: Southern Poland, 1939 to 1947 and mid-1900s
Pasulka, a teacher and daughter of Polish immigrants, weaves together a messy family history in parallel tales of the Polish grandmother Nela (during World War II) and her granddaughter Beata (after the fall of communism). The grandparents survive the horrors of war only to be separated after the war once they move to Krakow and are married. After Nela dies, the granddaughter leaves the family’s hillside village and follows in her grandparents’ footsteps to Krakow with hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the “new Poland” after the fall of Communism.
Pasulka, a Dartmouth grad, is an award-winning short story writer. In her first novel, the two stories she tells have a fairy tale quality. In alternating chapters she slowly reveals the details of Nela and Beata’s stories and how all the characters are connected while keeping you wondering what will happen next. Besides the revealing observations of the naïve Beata about everyone in her new world, there is a sense of mystery as well – what exactly is the author building up to? There is a loss and a surprise as well as hope for a better future for Beata.
Having just returned from this area of Poland, I enjoyed the stories as well as gaining an understanding of what the times during the war and after the fall of communism were like.
