Chopin's Garden

by ELEANOR LINCOLN MORSE

"The plane is lifting, the moon is the color of bright rust, glowing, misshapen, nearly full. Rivers of cars and strings of lights are shining below. I'll be back in Poland tomorrow for the first time in fifty-one years."Nadia Korczak, a professional musician living in New York, learns a secret from her dying father. Determined to find the whole truth, she takes his ashes back to a village on the banks of the Vistula River in Poland. There, she begins to search for the child her mother helped to hide during World War II.In the lives of the people she meets, Nadia discovers echoes of the war she escaped. As her search deepens and she learns the reasons behind her parents' choices, she must grapple with the ways in which history has fractured her own life and the lives of her parents and fellow Poles. Somehow she must find the meaning in her past which will lead to hope for the future.

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having visited a small bit of Poland and the former USSR and having lived in Germany, it is easy to understand the sorrowful history of this country.

[Anna Been · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed. Thought it was beautifully written and a lovely story.

[Patience Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chopin's Garden is a beautifully written book about a young professional writer whose journey takes her to Poland to seek the sister her Mother helped to hide during the holocaust in that country. She learned about the existence of her sister as her Dad lay dying. She and her parents escaped to the United States but because her sister was Jewish it was more difficult to get her out of the country. Her Father's request to have his ashes spread at his home in Poland prompted her to embark on her poignant search for her sister. The story is historical fiction and in the backdrop of WW II it is even more powerful. I highly recommend this book written by a Maine author who lives on Peak's Island.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleanor Morse's story of the daughter of Polish immigrants who returns to Warsaw to find the half-sister left behind during WWII is lush, poetic and poignant. It is a story of many kinds of love, loss and difficult choices. But she infuses humor by way of a finicky, possessive lovesick parrot who is a marvelous character. The story is inspiring, at times sensual and shows us how to look beyond the surface.