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A Long Way From Warsaw
Torn apart by war. Reunited by love.
Warsaw, 1939. Poland is on the brink of war, and for Anna Nowak, life will never be the same again.
Her brother, Lech, is called up to fight as an officer in the Polish army. He expects to be home in a matter of weeks, but it will be many years and a journey of thousands of miles before he can be reunited with those he loves.
Anna’s younger brother, Jan, dreams of being a soldier too. But his dreams turn into nightmares when the Germans invade and his best friend is incarcerated within the ghetto.
As for Anna, her hopes of studying art are crushed when the German occupiers close Polish universities. Instead she risks her own life by serving in the resistance. But with the Gestapo closing in, and with rumours of prisoners being sent to concentration camps, how far is she willing to go to save her country?
As Poland is carved up by both Germany and the Soviet Union, the fate of ordinary people hangs in the balance. What does it mean to be Polish when Poland itself is threatened with extinction?
Packed with authentic historical details, A Long Way From Warsaw is a sweeping novel of family, courage and the indomitable human quest for freedom.
Warsaw, 1939. Poland is on the brink of war, and for Anna Nowak, life will never be the same again.
Her brother, Lech, is called up to fight as an officer in the Polish army. He expects to be home in a matter of weeks, but it will be many years and a journey of thousands of miles before he can be reunited with those he loves.
Anna’s younger brother, Jan, dreams of being a soldier too. But his dreams turn into nightmares when the Germans invade and his best friend is incarcerated within the ghetto.
As for Anna, her hopes of studying art are crushed when the German occupiers close Polish universities. Instead she risks her own life by serving in the resistance. But with the Gestapo closing in, and with rumours of prisoners being sent to concentration camps, how far is she willing to go to save her country?
As Poland is carved up by both Germany and the Soviet Union, the fate of ordinary people hangs in the balance. What does it mean to be Polish when Poland itself is threatened with extinction?
Packed with authentic historical details, A Long Way From Warsaw is a sweeping novel of family, courage and the indomitable human quest for freedom.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 29, 2022
62 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Margarita Morris
12 books69 followersShortlisted for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2014 with her first novel, Oranges for Christmas, Margarita Morris brings a love of history to her writing.
Margarita studied languages at Oxford and it was as a student that she visited Berlin and saw at first hand the effects of the Berlin Wall on this divided city. Years later this experience led her to write Oranges for Christmas about a family trying to escape from Communist East Berlin.
Other passions include the Victorian era. The Sleeping Angel was inspired by the haunting beauty of Highgate Cemetery and the urban legends that surround it. In her Scarborough Fair series, historical mysteries meet contemporary thrillers.
Scarborough Fair #1
Scarborough Ball #2
Scarborough Rock #3
Margarita is married with two grown-up children. She lives in Oxfordshire.
Find more about Margarita Morris at her website at margaritamorris.com
Margarita studied languages at Oxford and it was as a student that she visited Berlin and saw at first hand the effects of the Berlin Wall on this divided city. Years later this experience led her to write Oranges for Christmas about a family trying to escape from Communist East Berlin.
Other passions include the Victorian era. The Sleeping Angel was inspired by the haunting beauty of Highgate Cemetery and the urban legends that surround it. In her Scarborough Fair series, historical mysteries meet contemporary thrillers.
Scarborough Fair #1
Scarborough Ball #2
Scarborough Rock #3
Margarita is married with two grown-up children. She lives in Oxfordshire.
Find more about Margarita Morris at her website at margaritamorris.com
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 13, 2022
Gripping, emotional and heart-wrenching, this is a story with epic scope. The book tells the story of Poland during world war 2 through the eyes of an ordinary family caught up in the fighting. We follow Anna as she joins the resistance in Warsaw despite the risk of being captured by the Gestapo and sent off to a concentration camp. Her brother Lech is conscripted into the army and sent to fight the Germans, but is captured and taken into Soviet territory. Her younger brother Jan faces his own struggle when his Jewish friend is sent to the ghetto. We also see the struggles of Anna's parents and friends as they seek at first to repel the enemy, then later simply to survive.
The history of Poland during the second world war is much bigger and more complex than we in the west know. A Long Way from Warsaw brings that story to life through a strong cast of engaging, likeable characters. This is the way to learn history.
The history of Poland during the second world war is much bigger and more complex than we in the west know. A Long Way from Warsaw brings that story to life through a strong cast of engaging, likeable characters. This is the way to learn history.
April 23, 2023
A history of all the things that Polish Resistance did, as well as what the Nazi's did you the Polish people and their Jewish neighbours in Poland. At times exhausting, I appreciated the exhaustion of fighting Poland in the great and awful onslaught they suffered at the hands of the Soviet Union and the Nazi, also the Jewish police in the ghettos. I missed any goodbye to Wiktor. I hated the tension of thinking Maria had died.
March 22, 2025
WWII in Poland
Really shows the suffering of the Polish people during WWII through the life of one family. What a terrible time in history!
Really shows the suffering of the Polish people during WWII through the life of one family. What a terrible time in history!
March 29, 2023
There’s something missing from the way this book is written and as yet I can’t put my finger on it. The premiss is good. A family torn apart by war but some how the text feels as if dates and events have been shoehorned in to give a time line. The stories of each character do not seem to have any real depth. They’re a vivid descriptions on some event and others the storyline seems to drift from one point to the next. The phrase I am thinking of at the moment is ‘The book has no soul’. I was assuming that it was written for adult fiction category when I bought it, off of the back of Oranges for Christmas ( Which I did enjoy reading) by the same writer but it feels more like it falls into the genre of War - Young Adult Fiction. I will read the third book in the trilogy set in Hungary ,I think and see if that is a more serious read.
October 27, 2024
A long way from Warsaw originally caught my interest because I haven't read a story about how Poland was affected by WW2 and this looked promising.
The author clearly has a lot of knowledge about the historical aspects of Poland's involvement in the conflict but it is so dryly written that the characters feel like props used to propel the history lesson forward and not people who truly lived during this time. The narrative follows Lech, who goes to war, his younger sister Anna, an aspiring artist and their mother and younger brother. I just found their descriptions to be 'X character did this, felt this, said this, etc'. I also found the story being written in present tense irritating as it covers a 5 year period of time so writing like this felt odd for me.
The book was a DNF for me. The stars are for the depth of knowledge the story covers, but I just couldn't engage myself with the lives of the characters.
The author clearly has a lot of knowledge about the historical aspects of Poland's involvement in the conflict but it is so dryly written that the characters feel like props used to propel the history lesson forward and not people who truly lived during this time. The narrative follows Lech, who goes to war, his younger sister Anna, an aspiring artist and their mother and younger brother. I just found their descriptions to be 'X character did this, felt this, said this, etc'. I also found the story being written in present tense irritating as it covers a 5 year period of time so writing like this felt odd for me.
The book was a DNF for me. The stars are for the depth of knowledge the story covers, but I just couldn't engage myself with the lives of the characters.
November 30, 2025
I read a paperback not a kindle edition.
This book centers on a Catholic family in Warsaw that is caught up in WW2 from the initial invasion of Poland to the end of the war. Strikingly, many Poles suffered similar fates as the jews-either because they were academics, subversives, in the wrong place. It was interesting to read this book that focused on people in Warsaw. At the same time, if you have read a lot of books about this period, there may be many things you are familar with.
This book centers on a Catholic family in Warsaw that is caught up in WW2 from the initial invasion of Poland to the end of the war. Strikingly, many Poles suffered similar fates as the jews-either because they were academics, subversives, in the wrong place. It was interesting to read this book that focused on people in Warsaw. At the same time, if you have read a lot of books about this period, there may be many things you are familar with.
March 17, 2025
I enjoyed reading A Long Way From Warsaw by Margarita Morris. Having travelled throughout Eastern Europe and spending several days in Warsaw this title really resonated with me. It was well-written and a quick read.
September 10, 2022
First time reading this author but I truly enjoyed her style!
July 13, 2023
interesting
A very vivid and well written book nothing like what I usually read but l really enjoyed reading it, amazing
A very vivid and well written book nothing like what I usually read but l really enjoyed reading it, amazing
February 16, 2025
Excellant! Telling these stories through the eyes of children and their families keeps the pages turning.
April 25, 2025
Page turner. Sad and at times difficult to read as so emotional. But thoroughly enjoyed! Very much a factual story.
April 17, 2025
It is well written, but Not good pleasurable reading for me. All a bit depressing but some I’m sure will enjoy the writing of pain and suffering due to the war. Not enough uplifting happy moments for me. But as I say others will enjoy the reality. I really enjoyed two of her other books ORANGES FOR CHRISTMAS and GOODBYE TO BUDAPEST., Far better in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews