A Long Long Time Ago And Essentially True

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the novel’s treatment of antisemitism, rape, alcohol addiction, and wartime violence.

This summary section includes Chapter 1: “A Faraway Land,” Chapter 2: “Golden Hands,” Chapter 3: “The Non-Courtship,” and Chapter 4: “The Seven Good Years of Pani Bożena.”

In a small mountain village in southwestern Poland in 1939, a young man makes a momentous decision. Nicknamed “the Pigeon,” he wants to marry the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. She’s Anielica Hetmański, and the Pigeon has never spoken to her before. Because of rural prudishness regarding courtship, he knows that he must find a roundabout way to gain her notice. The Pigeon goes to the Hetmański residence and offers to do carpentry work for free to renovate the property. Pan (Mr.) Hetmański shrewdly guesses the Pigeon’s ulterior motives but consents to the construction project. If the Pigeon lasts more than a week, he might make a good son-in-law.

The timeline skips forward 50 years, and the book’s narrator now begins to talk about herself. Her name is Beata, and she’s the 22-year-old granddaughter of the Pigeon and Anielica. She was raised by Anielica, whom she called Nela, because her mother (Ania) died when she was six, and her abusive father, who also had an alcohol addiction, left soon afterward.