My protagonists are women I admire!

Karolina Małkiewicz – the author of the Polish literary blog called I Visit the Universe – talks to Sherry Jones – the author of a few historical novels. 

Sherry Jones is both the international best-selling author of THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, THE SWORD OF MEDINA, WHITE HEART, and FOUR SISTERS, ALL QUEENS and a journalist and public speaker of topics including free speech, the Middle Ages, Islam, and women’s rights. In particular, she aims to empower girls and women with her tales of extraordinary women in history. Her new novel about the tragic medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise, THE SHARP HOOK OF LOVE, will be published in October 2014. Learn more about Sherry and her books on her website: http://authorsherryjones.com

Karolina Małkiewicz: Sherry, I am very glad that you agreed to take part in my interview and answer a few questions. You are the author of four historical novels: “The Jewel of Medina”, “The Sword of Medina”, “White Heart” and “Four Sisters, All Queens”, which Polish readers can read now. The protagonists of these books are unusual, strong and powerful women such as the beloved prophet Muhammad's wife – A’isha, the famous wife of King Louis VIII – queen Blanche de Castille and four other queens: Marguerite – the Queen of France; Eléonore – the Queen of England; Sanchia – the Queen of Germany, and Beatrice – the Queen of Italy. Why did you choose these women as the characters of your novels?

Sherry Jones: Did I choose them, or did they choose me? My protagonists are women I admire, for their strengths, their accomplishments, and their hearts. A’isha came to me as a single sentence in a book I was reading about women in Islam. She captured my imagination, and would not let go until I wrote about her. I love her wit, her loving nature, her passion, and her intelligence. The four sisters in KROLOWE intrigued me by virtue of how each dealt with power differently. Marguerite fought for it; Eléonore embraced it; Sanchia shied from it; Beatrice grasped it with both hands, and would have kept it for herself alone if not forced to marry. Queen Blanche, the evil mother-in-law in KROLOWE and protagonist of my novella prequel, WHITE HEART, had to deny her passionate nature in order to hold onto the power her husband’s death bestowed.

I’m interested in exploring how women find, and claim, their power in patriarchal societies. Each of these women did so in a different manner, but, ultimately, had to search within herself to find her strength. And each has something to teach us: Even Sanchia, the weakest and most fragile of my heroines, discovers in the last moments of her life that “God” — her spiritual power — is not an external entity, but exists inside her. That we are born with the resources we need to survive, and thrive, is a lesson many of us, men as well as women, need to learn and re-learn today.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Over the centuries history has been written by men, about men and for men. We evaluate history from the perspective wars and conquests; we get to know history through the eyes of men – and what about women? Is it worth looking at history through the eyes of women? Do you think that history told by women can improve our knowledge on this subject? And are they the protagonists of your novels just for this reason? Why do you want to break the stereotypical perception of history? Is it necessary?

Sherry Jones: In a college class I took about 10 years ago, the (male) professor said, “History is composed of wars.” My hand shot up, and I challenged him. “That’s men’s history,” I said. The fact is, while men have been engaged in the endless (and endlessly futile) struggle for power, women have been living life in much more intimate ways, concerned with survival, with love, with family, with community. This is the history that captivates me: the history of the human spirit, and of the heart.

But chroniclers through the ages haven’t concerned themselves much with what the women were doing. So little has been written about women in history, even queens. Much of my research has centered on the men in their lives, because there isn’t much information available about the women. So I am delighted to honor them by telling their stories, by bringing them to life through my books.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Do you think that the heroines like A’isha, Blanche or Beatrice can teach us or inspire us? Why are they so fascinating?

Sherry Jones: Yes, they do inspire readers all over the world. They fascinate us because they were extraordinary in their time — not just by virtue of their marriages, but also because of their own achievements. For me, they illustrate beautifully the idea that, if the world were a matriarchy, celebrating women’s power, instead of a patriarchy, it would be a much nicer place.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Which of the protagonists do you like most and why?

Sherry Jones: Asking me to choose one of my protagonists is like asking a mother to choose one of her children! How can I???

But — OK, I will try. I really love Blanche de Castille, the protagonist of my novella WHITE HEART. She isn’t very nice to Marguerite in FOUR SISTERS, ALL QUEENS, but she had very good reasons for her bitchiness, as WHITE HEART shows. She had to become as tough as nails to rule France without a man by her side, and, by God, that’s what she did. She was smart, sharp, and shrewd, and really exciting to write.

Among the queens in KROLOWE, I enjoyed Beatrice the most. She was so irreverent, and very funny! She made me laugh out loud several times.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Are there other women in history who intrigue you? Which ones? And why exactly these? Would you like to write a book about them?

Sherry Jones: Princess Diana fascinates me — she captured the hearts of all the world except her husband, and dared to divorce him and strike out on her own to do good in the world. She was also very troubled — I recently read that she might have had a borderline personality.

Sukhayna, the great-granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, was the first Arabic feminist. She refused to wear the veil, was married five or six times, and hosted what may have been the first literary salons in her home in Mecca.

Martha Gellhorn, one of the wives of Ernest Hemingway, was the United States’s first female war correspondent. She reported on six wars despite the U.S. government’s refusal to give her credentials. They refused her because she was a woman.

There are many more, too, including Eleanor of Aquitaine — but she has been written about many times. I have a long, long list of women I admire, and would love to write about them all if I can only live to be 110!

Karolina Małkiewicz: Which of your novels you have written was the most difficult to create and why?

Sherry Jones: My most recent novel, THE SHARP HOOK OF LOVE, is the most difficult work I have ever produced, but before that, KROLOWE was the hardest. Telling four women’s stories, in four courts with all those characters, and interweaving their tales seamlessly, was such a challenge! Plus, going straight from 7^th-century Arabia, the setting for THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, to 13^th-century Europe meant I had to do lots and lots of research.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Why are the novels about A’isha, prophet's wife, considered controversial?

Sherry Jones: The controversy happened because a U.S. professor told a Wall Street Journal reporter that THE JEWEL OF MEDINA is pornographic. Since the book hadn’t yet been published, people had no way to read it for themselves and see that her claims were false. A lot of people got very angry to think of a pornographic book about the Prophet Muhammad and his youngest wife. Of course, wherever these books, including the sequel, THE SWORD OF MEDINA, have been published, there have been no problems at all, because people can read them and see that they are respectful portrayals of a human prophet and his very human companions and wives.

Karolina Małkiewicz: “Four Sisters, All Queens” is a very interesting novel, but a bit too short. The dramatic stories of four women and only four hundred pages – it makes the readers a little disappointment. Is it true that your publisher limited the number of pages in the book?

Sherry Jones: For this book, my U.S. publisher had a budgeted number of pages. They do this to keep down costs, but also because they think readers prefer a shorter book. I wrote more than my allotted number of words, however, so they had to increase it — but my editor had to get permission first. So, yes, there was a limit for me. However, many readers have told me they love the book’s fast pace. Personally, I think it takes more skill to write a shorter book than to write a longer one, if that book effectively portrays its characters and their development.

Karolina Małkiewicz: If you could go back in time and be a figure from history, who would it be?

Sherry Jones: I would be Sappho, the Greek poet who lived on the island of Lesbos, or Sukhayna, the first Arab feminist and originator of the literary salon.

Karolina Małkiewicz: What are your favourite novels and authors?

Sherry Jones: My favorite authors are almost all women: Iris Murdoch (“The Sea, The Sea”), Eudora Welty, Ann Patchett, Alice Hoffman (“The Dovekeepers”), Hilary Mantel (“Wolf Hall”), Isabel Allende, Rebecca Kanner (“Sinners and the Sea”), E.D.E.N. Southworth (“The Hidden Hand, or Capitola the Madcap”), Ellen Gilchrist, Edith Wharton (“House of Mirth”). But I also love Edward P. Jones’s novel “The Known World,” “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy, and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Karolina Małkiewicz: When did you start writing? Is it your only job today? When did you realize that you wanted to start writing?

Sherry Jones: Writing is my only job, but I divide my time between fiction and non-fiction. I have a freelance writing business in which I write for many clients. Book royalties are sporadic, so most writers need a steady source of income.

I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since the second grade, when I was 7 years old, thanks to the encouragement and praise I received from my school teacher. I have always loved to read; my mother taught me to read when I was 4.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Do you agree with Hemingway's words that no one should try to write before the age of 30? Why?

Sherry Jones: No, I don’t agree with this. I think anyone who wants to write should do so, no matter their age or experience.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Are you working on a new novel? What or who is the new story about?

Sherry Jones: Yes, I’ve just finished a novel about the famous — and tragic — 12^th-century Parisian lovers Abelard and Heloise. It’s called THE SHARP HOOK OF LOVE, and it debuts in the U.S. in October of this year. I’m also working on two novellas, like WHITE HEART, about characters in my new book. After that, I’d like to write the third part of my “Jewel of Medina” trilogy, about Sukhayna, the great-granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Arabic feminist. It will be called THE STAR OF MECCA. But whether or not it will be my very next book, I don’t yet know. I have a long list of ideas to discuss with my U.S. editor. I’d also like to write a contemporary novel, if I can find the time!

Karolina Małkiewicz: What does Sherry Jones do every day? What are her dreams? What does she want to do? What is her hobby?

Sherry Jones: Mostly, I sit at my laptop writing. I read a lot, too — newspapers, history books, novels. I have a beautiful old house, built in 1909, and I spend time taking care of it. I study languages (French at present), play classical piano, and take long walks. Sometimes, I go for a run or ride my bicycle, but I’m pretty lazy and I don’t like to sweat. I do a lot of cooking and I’m very good at it, and I invite friends over quite a bit for dinner and wine. Because I spend all day alone, I visit with friends almost every evening — I am very social, and love parties and dancing and laughing out loud.

My goals and dreams: empowering women and girls to be their strongest, best selves. I’ve already achieved this in one sense: my daughter, Mariah, who will soon be 20, is an amazing, strong, feminist, powerful young woman who is sure to do much good in the world. She and I are very close, and I feel so fortunate to have her in my life.

I hope in the coming year to give more speeches about women in history and women’s rights, to become an advocate for the poor, and to help put an end to sex trafficking. I hope to use my writing talents for these causes, to raise awareness about these issues and the people struggling with them.

Karolina Małkiewicz: How does your ordinary day look?

Sherry Jones: I wake up around 8 a.m., make coffee, and read the newspapers. Then I sit down to write. I work for as long as my body will let me, and then I take a long walk if the weather permits or I walk on my treadmill. Then I write some more, study my French, play the piano. Often I don’t even get dressed until the late afternoon when it’s time to get ready to go out! (It can be quite embarrassing when someone comes to the door and I have to answer in my robe, haha!) Then I’ll visit with friends, either going out or entertaining at home. I’m a night owl, and often stay up until midnight or later reading or writing in bed. It’s a great life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Karolina Małkiewicz: How do you think whether any of the modern women could become a character of the novel? Which one and why?

Sherry Jones: Oh, yes, many contemporary women could be heroines of my books, including Hilary Clinton, who will be our next U.S. President (or so I hope); Oprah Winfrey, who has done so much good in the world; Jordan’s Queen Rania; and Malala, the Pakistani girl shot on her way to school who has become an advocate for the education of girls. And there are so many more remarkable women making a positive difference in the world.

Karolina Małkiewicz: Have you ever been to Poland? Would you like to see our country?

Sherry Jones: I have not been to Poland. However, I have seen the films by Krzysztof Kieslowski — “Blue,” “White,” and “Red,” and recall marveling over the beauty of Warsaw as depicted in “White.” I think the Polish people must be incredibly resilient to have endured the invasion of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, then decades of Soviet rule before achieving your independence through revolution. Visiting Poland is one of my heart’s desires. Maybe someday soon it will happen!

Karolina Małkiewicz: Sherry, I was very pleased to talk to you! I am honored and delighted that you wanted to answer my questions. “Four Sisters, All Queens” – the novel which recently has appeared in Poland aroused a lot of interest among readers. I am sure that the readers of my blog will read with interest about the author who wrote this wonderful book! Thank you for your time, kindness and understanding.

Sherry Jones: Thank you for your thoughtful interview, Karolina. I am most grateful to you, to my readers in Poland and around the world, and to my publishers, Wydawnictwo Pascal and Wydawnictwo Otwarte, for translating my works into Polish and producing such beautiful books. I hope my fans will check out my website at www.authorsherryjones.com and subscribe to my blog to keep up with my career as well as read about new historical fiction and tidbits from my historical research.

If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here

I hate leaving my characters hanging!

Agnes A. Rose - the author of the Polish blog In the Land of Reading & History talks to one of the most famous American writers - Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is one of the most famous writers in the world. She was born in New York, in suburbia on Long Island. The houses all looked the same and were called the Storybook development. She went to public school and had some great English teachers who encouraged her to write – and to apply to Princeton University, which had one of the best undergraduate creative writing programs in the US. She got accepted and worked there with Mary Morris, primarily. She truly believes if not for Mary, she would not be a writer today.

Agnes A. Rose: At the beginning I would like to ask you what you wanted to become when you were a child or a teenage girl?

Jodi Picoult: A writer. For real. It was my dream, but I never imagined it would happen. At first I didn’t care if anyone ever read my stuff; I just wanted to see it in print. But even when I was thirty and published I dreamed of writing books that sold well enough to actually contribute to my family income which took much longer than you’d imagine!

Agnes A. Rose: What is your writing plan? Do you write every day? Or maybe you prefer working a few days a week?

Jodi Picoult: I don’t work on weekends, usually (although I have been known to sneak up to an office when I’m in the middle of a chapter – I hate leaving my characters hanging!) But other than that, I’m a workaholic. I will start a new book the day after finishing a previous one. What you need to remember, however, is that there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than writing. My kids know that I need it like some people need medication – as a preventative, because when I don’t write for a few days, I get predictably cranky. They’ve become used to sharing me with people who don’t really exist, but who are incredibly real to me while I’m telling their stories.

Agnes A. Rose: Some of the authors very often know the last scene of their books. While writing do you always know in what way your book will finish?

Jodi Picoult: Let me put it this way – I think I do, and I’m usually wrong. When I start a book, I juggle a what-if question in my head, and push it and push it until I feel like I have a good story. I figure out what I need to know and do my research, via the Internet or email or in some cases getting down and dirty. I start to write when I come up with an excellent first line. And then I keep going, chapter by chapter, exactly in the order in which you’re reading it. Often, about two-thirds of the way through, the characters will take over and move the book in a different direction. I can fight them, but usually when I do that the book isn’t as good as it could be. It sounds crazy, but the book really starts writing itself after a while. I often feel like I’m just transcribing a film that’s being spooled in my head, and I have nothing to do with creating it. Certain scenes surprise me even after I have written them – I just stare at the computer screen, wondering how that happened. For example, the scene in “The Pact” where Melanie nearly runs Chris down with her car. Or in “Keeping Faith”, when Millie Epstein resuscitates. Or in “Salem Falls”, that last scene. When I was writing “Plain Truth”, I called my mom up one day. “You’re not going to believe what’s happening to Ellie!” I told her. I think she said I was scaring her and hung up. I know it seems a little unnerving, but I love the moments when my characters get up and walk off on their own two feet. In my 2011 book, “Sing You Home”, one of the main characters did something very stupid that’s going to hurt him in the long run, although I keep telling him not to!

Agnes A. Rose: I’m sure that each of your novels is very special to you. But I wonder if you have your favorite one?

Jodi Picoult: In more than a decade, every time I’ve been asked this, I always have said, “Oh, that’s like asking me to pick which kid I love the most!” or in other words, something I wasn’t ever going to do. But right now, I do have a personal favorite – “Second Glance”. I think it’s the most complex book I’ve written to date, and I am incredibly proud of the characters in there. Some of whom I’ve never seen in fiction ever before. Plus, it addresses themes and concepts that are rarely discussed in fiction. There’s a real tendency when you write to think that Shakespeare did it all, and that we just recycle it, so when you feel like you’ve broken new ground as a writer, it’s a big deal. For all those reasons, I think “Second Glance” is my biggest accomplishment to date.

Agnes A. Rose: In your books you describe very serious and controversial problems. Where do you draw ideas for writing them?

Jodi Picoult: Usually, a what-if question: what if a boy left standing after a botched suicide pact was accused of murder? What if a little girl developed an imaginary friend who turned out to be God? What if an attorney didn't think that the legal system was quite good enough for her own child? I start by mulling a question and before I know it, a whole drama is unfolding in my head. Often, an idea sticks before I know what I'm going to do with it. For “Mercy”, I researched Scottish clans without having a clue why this was going to be important to the book. It was only after I learned about them that I realized I was writing a novel about the loyalty we bear to people we love. Sometimes ideas change in the middle. “The Pact” was not a page-turner when I conceived it. I was going to write a character driven book about the female survivor of a suicide pact, and I went to the local police chief to do some preliminary research. “Huh,” he said, “it’s the girl who survives? Because if it was the boy, who was physically larger, he’d automatically be suspected of murder until cleared by the evidence.” Well, I nearly fell out of my seat. “Really?” I asked, and the character of Chris began to take shape. Sometimes I write books because other people make the suggestion: “Plain Truth” came about when my mother said I ought to explore the reclusive Amish. "If anyone can learn about them,” she said, “it’s you.” And sometimes, ideas grow out of the ones I’m researching. That happened with “My Sister's Keeper” – information I learned while researching “Second Glance” so fascinating to me that I stuck it into its own file and turned it into a story all its own.

Agnes A. Rose: You also wrote the book about the Holocaust which is entitled “The Storyteller”. What made you decide to create such a story?

Jodi Picoult: This book actually began with another book – Simon Wiesenthal’s “The Sunflower”. In it, Mr. Wiesenthal recounts a moment when, as a concentration camp prisoner, he was brought to the bedside of a dying Nazi, who wanted to confess to and be forgiven by a Jew. The moral conundrum in which Wiesenthal found himself has been the starting point for many philosophical and moral analyses about the dynamics between victims of genocide and the perpetrators…and it got me thinking about what would happen if the same request was made, decades later, to a Jewish prisoner’s granddaughter.

Agnes A. Rose: What about researching?

Jodi Picoult: This research was among some of the most emotionally grueling I’ve ever done. I met with several Holocaust survivors, who told me their stories. Some of those details went into the fictional history of my character, Minka. It was humbling and horrifying to realize that the stories they recounted were non-fiction. Some of the moments these brave men and women told me will stay with me forever: such as Bernie, who pried a mezuzah from his door frame as the Nazis dragged him from his home, and held it curled in his fist throughout the entire war – so that it took two years to straighten his fingers after liberation. Or how his mother promised him that he would not be shot in the head, only the chest – can you imagine making that promise to your child?! Or Gerda – who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and who survived a 350 mile march in January 1945 – because, she told me, her father had told her to wear her ski boots when she was taken from home. Or Mania, whose mastery of the German language saved her life multiple times during the war, when she was picked to work in office jobs instead of in hard labor; and who told me of Herr Baker, her German boss at one factory, who called the young Jewish women who were assigned to him Meine Kinder (my children) and who saved his workers from being selected by the Nazis during a concentration camp roundup. At Bergen Belsen, she slept in a barrack with 900 people and contracted typhoid – and would have died, if the British had not come then to liberate them.

Agnes A. Rose: Among your novels in Poland very popular is the book you wrote with your daughter, Samantha. Could you tell me something more about this novel? Why did you decide to create it with your daughter?

Jodi Picoult: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten a letter from a fan asking me whether I would ever consider creating a sanitized, simplified version of “My Sister’s Keeper” or “The Pact” or “Nineteen Minutes” for young adults. Each time I wrote back, saying that I wouldn’t. I have always written adult fiction and I’ve always been delighted that so many young adults have found their way to my stories when they are emotionally ready to do so. After all, I used to joke, after you’ve read all the Harry Potter books, what’s next!? I have also gotten letters from parents asking me how old their child should be before reading one of my stories. The answer is: it differs for every kid. Some are more ready for the very intense content of my books, some parents prefer that their child not be exposed to swearing or to sex scenes or to violence. Any kid who isn’t ready for my novels will, eventually, grow up and can tackle them then. The whole YA label, in my opinion, is a shifting one. Many YA novels these days are hungrily read by adults (“The Hunger Games”, “Harry Potter”, “The Twilight” series) and many adult novels are enjoyed by adolescents.

So why did I set out to write a YA novel – one that is considerably lighter than the subject matter I usually cover? In part, because my daughter Sammy conceived the idea and suggested we write it together. But also because I’d like to give young readers who aren’t ready for my “heavier” novels a chance to still enjoy my fiction. To me, “Between the Lines” is a great fit for preteens and younger teens who may not be quite ready to tackle moral and ethical dilemmas in fiction. There are characters their own age, feeling feelings they have probably felt. As in my other novels, the teens in the book seem very real – they talk and act like adolescents. So maybe the twelve year old who reads “Between the Lines” and loves it will want, next year, to pick up a copy of “My Sister’s Keeper”…and continue walking on that bridge to adult fiction.

But the other reason I wanted to dip my toe into YA waters is because I know what it’s like, as a mom, to share an author you love with a child. Alice Hoffman, who is my all time favorite writer, could rewrite the phone book and I would buy it. In triplicate. I have loved her novels for years, but when Sammy was twelve or thirteen and itching for more substantial books, I didn’t feel like she could hunker down with one of Alice’s adult novels yet, without feeling overwhelmed or missing half the story. Luckily for me, Alice had written multiple YA novels. The first one Sammy read was “Aquamarine” – and she adored it. She read “Green Angel” next. And then, one day, she pulled “The Probable Future” off my bookshelf. Now Alice has another fan for life.

I hope that moms who have read me forever will share “Between the Lines” with their daughters. And that you have as much fun reading it as Sammy and I had writing it.

Agnes A. Rose: What should someone who dreams about writing do? Could you give any advice?

Jodi Picoult: Do it. Many people have a novel inside them, but most don't bother to get it out. Writing is grunt work - you need to have self-motivation, perseverance, and faith… talent is the smallest part of it. If you don't believe in yourself, and you don't have the fortitude to make that dream happen, why should the hotshots in the publishing world take a chance on you? I don't believe that you need an MFA to be a writer, but I do think you need to take some good workshops. These are often offered through writer's groups or community colleges. You need to learn to write on demand, and to get critiqued without flinching. When someone can rip your work to shreds without it feeling as though your arm has been hacked off, you're ready to send your novel off to an agent. There's no magic way to get one of those - it took me longer to find my wonderful agent than it did to get published! Keep sending out your work and don't get discouraged when it comes back from an agent - just send it out to a different one. Attend signings/lectures by authors, and in your free time, read, read, read. All of this will make you a better writer. And – here’s a critical part – when you finally start to write something, do not let yourself stop…even when you are convinced it’s the worst garbage ever. This is the biggest caveat for beginning writers. Instead, force yourself to finish what you began, and then go back and edit it. If you keep scrapping your beginnings, however, you’ll never know if you can reach an end.

Agnes A. Rose: Would you like to change anything in your life? If yes, what would it be?

Jodi Picoult: After college, instead of going to work right away, I would have traveled around the world.

Agnes A. Rose: Could you tell me anything about your nearest plans? Are you working on your new novel or anything else?

Jodi Picoult: I am working on the 2015 book, doing research. It is about race relations in the US. The 2014 book, “Leaving Home”, is already in production. 

Agnes A. Rose: Finally, is there anything you would like to tell your Polish fans of your work?

Jodi Picoult:  I hear from my Polish fans all the time and I am so grateful to them for choosing my books to read, out of all the thousands of novels that are published!

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you so much for this interview. On behalf of myself and all the other Polish readers of your work, I wish you further success and many more great books in the future. 

If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here

"Dom na krawędzi" Maria Nurowska

Polish publisher: Znak, 2012

By reading Dom na krawędzi I have thrown myself into the very centre of the story about the ex-convict, Daria. This woman killed her husband and spent 6 years in prison. I have not read the first part of this story titled Drzwi do piekła and I felt a bit confused at times. Particularly, when the past of the heroine was concerned. However, Nurowska has created a further part of the story, where the need of a new life has conquered the past.

Daria changes her identity and she built a house on the edge in Bukowina. She opens a guesthouse and tries to straighten her winding paths. But fate has different plans and Daria meets Iza, the former prison psychiatrist, who helped her to survive the years of isolation. For Iza career is the most important and she leaves her daughter, Ola, at Daria's place. This bitter-sweet relationship will irretrievably affect Ola's life, who has got two mothers now. It all gets even more complicated when Daria falls in love with Paweł- the doctor who visited her guesthouse. For Ola it is also a time of fascination with Paweł's terminally ill son, Antek. It appears that each character has something to hide and detaching oneself from the past is more difficult than they can imagine.

I really like the author's style: poetic, full of melancholia entwined with descriptions of nature. Nurowska will enter the inner world of the characters with surgeon's precision and great attention to analyse their emotions. Each relationship is taken to pieces with great intensity and the reader is a bit embarrassed that he took part in it. I reckon that attentive reading of Drzwi do piekła will help me to understand the two women's toxic relationship better, because it it the outline of Nurowska's novel. I just simply regret that I have started reading in the wrong order.

fot. Elżbieta Lempp, link

Santa Montefiore - the interview for Polish readers

Agnes A. Rose - the author of the blog In the Land of Reading & History talks to the British writer - Santa Montefiore. 

Santa Montefiore was born in England in 1970. She grew up on a farm in Hampshire and was educated at Sherborne School for Girls. She read Spanish and Italian at Exeter University and after finishing her secondary school she left for Buenos Aires. She converted to Judaism in 1998 and married historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London. They live with their two children, Lily and Sasha in London. She is the author of the international bestseller such as: “Meet Me Under Ombu Tree”, “The House by the Sea”, “The French Gardener” or “The Sea of Lost Love”.

You are one of the most famous writers in the world creating literature for women. Why did you choose this particular kind of literature?

I didn’t deliberately choose to write a certain genre, it’s just the natural way I write – probably the only way I know how to write. 

You started writing books after getting married. Why? Had you never thought about writing books before?

I started writing books as a child – it just took 31 years to get a book published!!

Your first novel is the book entitled “Meet me under ombu tree”. Its storyline is set in Argentina. You spent a year in this country so I wonder how much your stay there inspired you to write this book.

My year there totally inspired the book. I lived there and fell in love with the country and the people I met – then I left and returned to England, regretting very much that I had to leave.  When I returned a year later it wasn’t the same. The young people I had hung out with had all dispersed across the globe, to study and work, and the farm where I had spent so much of my time was no longer full of my friends. Also, I wasn’t working like I had been, so I was suddenly a tourist in a place where once I had truly belonged. I was a tourist and it felt as if I had lost something very precious.  I suppose I had: my sense of belonging!  So, I wrote “Ombu” as an allegory of my love affair with Argentina.  It was cathartic and wonderful, because I was able to relive my experiences.  The story and the people are all invented, but the place is exactly as I knew it.

The novel “Meet Me Under Ombu Tree” very quickly became an international bestseller. Did you expect such success writing this book? Do you remember what you felt then?

It’s extraordinary to think that so many people love that book and enormously flattering! It totally swept me away! When the book came out I worried who would buy it and made all my friends go out and purchase it so I sold at least a few copies! I write to entertain and to touch people on an emotional and spiritual level – the greatest part of my job is when people write to me and tell me that they love my stories.  Bestsellers lists are nothing in comparison to that.

I must admit that each of your books is remarkable, simply magical and very touching. Where do you draw ideas for writing them? Are there any real-life stories/experiences behind any of your books? Or is all of it pure fiction?

I think they’re a mixture of both.  I am a sum of my experience and everything I have lived through, seen and heard goes into the cauldron out of which I draw my characters, settings and plots.

Some of the characters of your books very often must deal with the painful experiences of their past. Most of us also fight our own demons. Is really the past so important for us? Maybe we should leave it all behind and never look back?

I don’t think one should look back if it is painful. The present moment is the only reality and the future is just a projection of our hopes and dreams. I like looking back because I love to remember my past. I’m very nostalgic.  However, sometimes in order to make sense of the present one has to make sense of the past.  In order to find happiness the past has to be understood before it can be let go.

I’m sure each of your novels is very important to you. But do you have a favourite one?  

I have certain favourites, but they are all special to me!  At the time of writing each book I felt like it was my best work – now looking back, I think some are better than others, but they all contain a part of me and they’re all written from the heart.

Has any of your books been filmed yet? If not, would you like it to happen? Which would you most like to see adapted for the big screen/silver screen?

I’ve love my books to be made into movies or mini series – I think “Ombu”, “The French Gardener”, “The House by the Sea” and “Secrets of the Lighthouse” would make good adaptations.  Nothing yet… but you never know…

If you had to choose your profession once again, would it also be writing?

Singer songwriter.

What do you read every day? Do you have your favourite kind of literature or authors?

I love lots of authors both contemporary and classic. They have to be beautifully written, profound and heartwarming. My favourite authors are Isabel Allende, Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, Dumas, Mary Wesley, Philippa Gregory and Garcia Marquez.

What are your plans for the nearest future associated with writing? Are you working on a new novel?

I have finished The Beekeeper’s Daughter, which will come out next year and I’m planning the next.  I’m also working on a children’s book with my husband.

Finally, is there anything you would like to tell your Polish readers?

That I’m enormously grateful for their support.  Thank you!

Thank you very much for this interview. On behalf of myself and all the other Polish fans of your work, I wish you further success and many more great books in the future. 

If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here

The Saragossa Manuscript

There are films that do not lose their magnetism as the years go by. They are still watched with growing interest. I can add The Saragossa Manuscript by Wojciech J. Has from 1965 to this list of timeless classics . Recent digitally-renewed copy makes the adventures of the main character even more improbable and mysterious.

The film is an adaptation of a vast book written by count Jan Potocki, whose life was the source of research and speculation. Potocki lived at the turn of VIII and XIXth century and he implemented the philosophy of Enlightement, religion, kabbalah, magic and science in his epic work . The Manusript is a frame-tale novel, where one story enroots in another one, and the second one enroots in a third. The plot takes place during 66 days and the reader familiarises himself with 33 stories told by different characters. Alfons van Worden, captain of the Walloon Guard is the link between all the tales.

The Saragossa Manuscript is a very challenging work for a film creator, but Has made a film which still intrigues. He decided to transfer 10 stories included in the original book and to unify their main characters. However critics also had something to say. Has was accused of diminishing the book's philosophy. The choice of the actor in the leading role also spurred some controversies. Another issue discussed by the reviewers was using Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which was composed 10 years after publishing the book.

In the 1960's the voice of critics might have some validity, but nowadays who would imagine a different actor in the leading role than Zbyszek Cybulski? While listening to philosophical reasoning of Uzeda (Adam Pawlikowski) or the mathematician Velasquez (Gustaw Holoubek) I get the impression that Has did his best to transfer the book's philosophy in a nutshell. The director created a universal story about Good and Evil, where magic entwines with everyday life. The Saragossa Manuscript is a milestone of  Polish cinema and an obligatory position for every filmgoer.

Original title: Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie
Director: Wojciech J. Has
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Gustaw Holoubek
Polish premiere: 09.02.1965