Reviews

Review by Suzanne Brownlow
This is a beautifully written book chronicling the experiences of a Polish immigrant family in Derby, England, during the 1960s and 1970s over the course of a few generations. You don't need to have Polish ancestry to appreciate the story (I'm Finnish/French/American); the immigrant experience is universal. Nevertheless, the author's keen eye and sensitivity to the challenges faced by each member of the family make this book special. From the Polish grandmother's desire to leave Derby and be buried in her homeland to the teen-age daughter's desire to have a "normal" English name, this book is full of insightful observations about identity and the fundamental desire of people to fit in. I really liked the author's writing style, which mixes humor, history and human experience.

Review by Iwona Zielinska
This debut novel by journalist Joanna Czechowska is short enough to read at one sitting. The title ‘Goodbye Polsko’, presents an enormous problem to the second generation Poles who were born and brought up in England after the War as it represents a separation from their roots. The parents of that generation, born in Poland, were brought to England as a result of the war and for many reasons, political, family or personal, were not able or didn’t wish to return.

The action of the novel takes place mainly in Derby, a small English town. However the action also moves to London and to Poland. The main story takes places between the years 1964 to 1978 but the plot also takes in the years before the First World War, the time during the Russian Revolution, the brief era of Polish independence and the German occupation.

The reader is touched by many interlinked issues - the lives of Helena and Tadeusz Baran in England, Helena’s previous life in Poland and the history of the aristocratic Poniatowski family.

Life for the Baran family is rather boring in Derby, but nevertheless each family member has found their own place in society. The grandmother, Barbara, tries to keep their Polish roots in the forefront of their minds while the parents attend to the family’s day-to-day practical cares. The children are settled into the English system and while their parents try to preserve some of their ‘Polishness’, each child has their own opinion about their Polish background and it’s not necessarily the same as that of their parents.

Each character hides a deep secret, and when these secrets are discovered, it turns the reader’s previous opinion about the world these characters inhabit around completely. In the novel, many contrasts and paradoxes are obvious concerning the mentality of the old Polish generation, their love of myths, their patriotism and their religious devotion bordering on fanaticism. This is shown for example by Barbara Poniatowska, wife of Prince Jan Poniatowski. In England, no one cares about her daughter Helena’s aristocratic background. Indeed, Helena works as a machinist in a clothing factory – hardly an aristocratic profession.

When Helena’s daughter Zosia goes to Poland for a visit, the narrative describes brilliantly the political situation in Poland in the 1970s. There are queues outside shops, the streets seem grey, the young generation don’t want to accept the reality of the situation. Some of these young people, such as the character Pawel, find themselves restricted by the restraints the government places on them for their lack of loyalty. Here again the reader can see the contrast between the generation born in the brief period of Polish independence and democracy before the war, and those born under Communism. Also the experiences of the Baran children and their cousin in Warsaw are completely difference. Wanda, Helena’s other daughter, has been able to do as she wishes since she was a small child, her parents put few restrictions on her. Pawel, born in Warsaw, is only allowed to do as his parents tell him. To live the life he wants, he’s forced to leave Poland and emigrate to England.

The novel has a happy ending. It’s 1978 and the Polish Pope has just been elected. From that moment, everything in Poland will change for the better, or so the family believe. Helena and Tadeusz get older and the family becomes richer in the new generation.

I really recommend this book to you. Novels such as this are extremely rare and that is the main reason it is worth reading.