Polish Historical Fiction

Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now 15 and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears.

Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.

1941, Poland. Though war rages around her and occupying German forces march steadily onward, 16-year-old Aleksandra has lived her life sheltered from danger. Until one day, she goes to school—never to return. Pushed roughly into a truck with other schoolgirls like her, a single ominous word tells her all she needs to know about her fate: Lebensborn.

Opowieść, która stała się kanwą i inspiracją dla serialu "Wspaniałe stulecie". Ta opowieść zapiera dech w piersi. Jest jak baśń z "Tysiąca i jednej nocy", a jednak zdarzyła się naprawdę. Pierwsza połowa XVI wieku. Aleksandra Lisowska, młoda dziewczyna z Rohatyna, porwana przez Tatarów niemal sprzed ołtarza i wzięta w jasyr, trafia na dwór Sulejmana Wspaniałego, jednego z najpotężniejszych władców Imperium Osmańskiego. Przyjmuje imię Hürrem (Roksolana to przydomek wskazujący na przynależność do narodu ruskiego).

In this sweeping novel, James A. Michener chronicles eight tumultuous centuries as three Polish families live out their destinies. With an inspiring tradition of resistance to brutal invaders, from the barbarians to the Nazis, and a heritage of pride that burns through eras of romantic passion and courageous solidarity, their common story reaches a breathtaking culmination in the historic showdown between the ruthless Communists and rebellious farmers of the modern age.

In the shadow of World War II, a young woman’s life is forever changed. Krista Schulz, a 17-year-old German girl living in Poland, faces a harrowing loss as the Nazi occupation shatters her peaceful life. After witnessing the brutal murder of her beloved grandparents, the Nazis are now hunting her. Krista flees her village, carrying the weight of unanswered questions and a heart heavy with grief. Determined to survive and find purpose in the chaos, Krista makes her way to Warsaw. As she grows from a frightened young girl into a resolute young woman, Krista discovers the strength within ...

As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her five-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. In this make-believe world, Róza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.

Nazis are already infiltrating Polva, a quiet town in southern Poland, to scout for provisions for the looming invasion. Grandfather, Maria and other veterans of the Polish underground know the meaning of the German word 'Blitzkrieg' or Lightning War, intercepted on their secret channels. The race to educate, train and provision Aleks and his friends must be finished in secret before the attack. But these youth are the children of heroes, and they have already learned the meaning of courage and unfaltering love. They want to participate, and the Resistance needs their intelligence, youthful...

Wanting to learn the Polish language, but don’t know how - or where - to start? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This audiobook will give you an excellent introduction to the Polish language, and by starting with the very basics, the audiobook will increase your knowledge step-by-step. The exercises provide you with a lot of practice in both writing and talking; many useful words and phrases are included for reference during your learning, and for a long time after.

In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin? As the train heads west, all Rodzina has is a small suitcase and her family memories from the past.

MIŁOŚĆ I NADZIEJA SĄ POTĘŻNIEJSZE NIŻ NIENAWIŚĆ I GNIEW. Gdy Jurij Santacruz przyglądał się paradzie z okazji mianowania Adolfa Hitlera na kanclerza Niemiec, nie mógł przypuszczać, jak bardzo ten dzień odmieni jego życie. Do Berlina przyjechał kilka miesięcy wcześniej, po tym, jak z częścią rodziny uciekł z Sankt Petersburga przed skutkami bolszewickiej rewolucji, która pozbawiła ich wszystkiego. Jurija pozbawiła także matki i młodszego brata – rosyjskie władze nie zezwoliły im na opuszczenie kraju.

Thirteen-year-old Anna escapes the horrors of Nazi occupied Warsaw and joins the underground. Under the guidance of a resistance fighter known as the Captain, she learns to survive, to cope with devastating loss, and to fight back. Every day is a challenge, and every mission is a battle against impossible odds. Then one night two allied planes fall from the sky, and everything changes in this action-packed, epic tale of despair, heartbreak, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit. “The Promise: A World War II Story” is a riveting, decades-spanning, sweeping story, and an emotionally ...

For Poland and her people, time is running out: Hitler has set his greedy eyes upon the country and he is determined to have her. In a matter of days, Polish communication with the outside world was eliminated, factories and train stations left in ruins, complete cities annihilated, and thousands lay dead in the once vibrant country. Doctors, professors and clergy are slaughtered while thousands of Polish children are sent to Germany to be raised within the Nazi cause. For young Marta Koblinski the German occupation brings personal tragedy prompting her to take up a friend’s challenge and...

Rok 1818. Młoda szlachcianka Hanna Królikiewicz, z powodu odrzucenia zalotów kolejnego konkurenta, zostaje zamknięta przez rodziców w panieńskim pokoju. Uciekającą przez okno młodą damę ratuje z opresji lord Adrian Garenwill. To zabawne wydarzenie sprzyja odnowieniu nagle przerwanej przed laty znajomości. Wkrótce potem młodzi wikłają się w serię niepokojących zdarzeń. Śledztwo goni śledztwo, a wszystko komplikuje odkrycie, że wuj Adriana, baron Ostrowski, żyje.

New York Times bestselling author Alan Furst is internationally renowned as master of the European espionage thriller. Unfolding in September of 1939 as Hitler’s Wehrmacht ravages Warsaw, the Polish Officer discloses the clandestine existence of Polish Military Intelligence.

Historia fikcyjna, dla której inspiracją były wydarzenia, które mogły mieć miejsce w rzeczywistości. Zakazana miłość z czasów wojny, między oficerem niemieckim i siostrą zakonną. Owocem tego związku jest dziecko, które po latach dowiaduje się prawdy o swoich rodzicach i próbuje odzyskać tożsamość, jednak wciąż napotyka na mur milczenia. Kluczem do rozwiązania zagadki jest pamiętnik zakonnicy, który pisała przez niemal całe życie, a który po jej śmierci znika w tajemniczych okolicznościach.

Winner of both the Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, The Polished Hoe is acclaimed author Austin Clarke's masterpiece. On a Caribbean island in the 1950s, elderly Mary Gertrude Mathilda commits murder. As she explains herself to police, her story exposes the ugly underbelly of life on Caribbean plantations, with its slavery and brutality.

Jeden z pierwszych reportazy Wankowicza, opisujacy tygodniowy pobyt w ZSRR. Na radziecka Rosje patrzyl okiem zyczliwym i nieuprzedzonym, choc takze bez wiekszego entuzjazmu. Wankowicz mial niezwykly dar obserwacji, latwosc nawiazywania kontaktów z ludzmi, ogromna ciekawosc drugiego czlowieka, a co najwazniejsze zyczliwosc dla niego. Cechy te sa doskonale widoczne w tekscie, stanowia wyróznik calej twórczosci autora, czyniac ja wyjatkowa i ponadczasowa.

Czasy kampanii napoleońskiej w Prusach Wschodnich. Émilie de Berier, tajemnicza Francuzka, szantażowana przez politycznych wrogów z Polski, pragnie odzyskać porwaną córkę. Lekkoduch pułkownik Antoni Podolski, dziedzic rodzinnego majątku, szuka szpiega, który wykradł dokumenty francuskiemu generałowi. Jego i Émilie łączy wspólna podróż do Warszawy zajętej przez Wielką Armię Napoleona. Choć nie pałają do siebie sympatią, ich ścieżki nieustannie się krzyżują. Szukając pomocy u księcia Józefa Poniatowskiego, obydwoje zostają wplątani w wir wielkiej polityki.

The death of Alexander the Great was the signal to begin the greatest war in human history - a war that swept like a firestorm from one end of the known world to the other, as his former generals fought like jackals to make his vast empire their own. By 305 BC, the most powerful players in this deadly game faced each other across the Mediterranean: Ptolemy, the master of Egypt, and Antigonus One-Eye, master of Asia. And between them, the island of Rhodes, a strategic fortress city that neither could afford to cede to the enemy.