From an original new voice in fiction comes this warmhearted debut withechoes of Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss. On the eve of World War II inHalfVillag... » 

From an original new voice in fiction comes this warmhearted debut withechoes of Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss. On the eve of World War II inHalfVillage a young man nicknamed the Pigeon courts the beautiful AnielicaHetmanska by offering up his golden hands to renovate her familys hut. Butthe wars arrival delays their marriage and wreaks havoc in all their lives.After the war the Pigeon and Anielica find themselves in Krakow for a fewyears before tragedy sends Anielica home. Nearly fifty years later theirgranddaughter Beata repeats their journey seeking a new life in the fairytale city of her grandmothers stories. But when she arrives in Krakow insteadof the whispered prosperity of the New Poland she discovers a city caughtbetween its future and its past and full of frustrated youths. Taken in by hertoughtalking cousin Irena and Irenas glamorous daughter Magda Beata strugglesto find her own place in 1990s Krakow and in the constellation of Irena andMagdas fierce love. When two unexpected events occur one tragic and the othera kind of miracle Beata is given a fresh glimpse of her familys and hercountrys historyand a vision of her own role in the New Poland. With theaccomplished grace of a gifted storyteller Pasulka weaves together the twostrands of her story reimagining half a century of Polish history through thelegacy of one profound love affair we wont soon forget. «