Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Boy Who Wanted Wings Author: James Conroyd Martin ISBN: 9780997894509 Publisher: Hussar Quill Press Type of book: Poland, 1683, Asian male/white female relationship, Battle of Vienna, war, archers, marriage, choices, decisions, secrets, family, brotherhood, prejudices, friendship, determination, trickery Year it was published: 2016 Summary: "A poor archer in medieval Poland takes aim at the love of his life in this epic novel from Martin. The anxious Aleksy Gazdecki, a young farmhand, embodies the ethnic and political tensions of Europe during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. The believability of this novel, which is sprinkled with period-specific details, is never in question. Martin sets the stage so tidily that the plight of Aleksy and Krystyna, who desire to move beyond the social classes that keep them apart, transcends the historical moment. Sprawling but never slow, the plot moves naturally from battle to intimacy and back again. ...

Name of Book: Push not the river Author: James Conroyd Martin ISBN: 978-0-312-31153-7 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Part of a Series: Push not the river Type of book: Poland, Russia, Partition, 1779, 1791-1794, loyalty, secrets, betrayal, war, conflict, love triangle, feminist, destiny, fate Year it was published: 2003 Summary: A panoramic and epic novel in the grand romantic style, Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700s--a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are being torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, when Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known. With Empress Catherine's Russian armies streaming in to take their spoils, Anna is quickly thrust into a world of love and hate, loyalty and deceit, patriotism and treason, life and death. Even kind Aunt Stella, ...