Ashes and Diamonds

by Jerzy Andrzejewski

Book Overview

Originally published in Poland in 1948, and acclaimed as one of the finest postwar Polish novels, Ashes and Diamonds takes place in the spring of 1945, as the nation is in the throes of its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140052771
• ISBN13: 9780140052770
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Historical novel at its best

There are many ways to get to grips with the complicated realities of the post-WW2 Eastern Europe but reading Ashes and Diamonds is arguably the best of them. Rather then reading some dry history book which would necessary have less feeling for the stories of individual people, Ashes and Diamonds tells history exactly by concentrating on the peculiar life stories of the main characters. It shows how the unsettled and chaotic situation of postwar Poland gave rise to some weird coalitions in politics, strange passions or totally unreasonable expectations of the people who had to live then. Since we can afford the luxury of informed hindsight and already know that by 1949 Poland became communist, it is interesting to watch Poland in the period when things were not at all clear yet.