It hardly needs to be restated that nothing is more difficult to write about than love, despite the fact that the romance is undoubtedly the oldest of literary genres. Anyone these days who can still manage to portray the world of human emotions faithfully has to be a superb writer. Alexander Jurewicz has proved himself up to the task. The story he tells is quite simple: two young people are united in passionate feeling despite all that otherwise divides them — nationality, religion, politics. She, a Belarusian girl, comes from a traditional Catholic family; whereas he is a Russian whose family had been relocated to the Polish-Belarusian borderland, following its cession after the war to the Soviet Union, in order to cement the new political order there. The story takes place on the cusp of the 1950s outside the town of Lida, in a picturesque settlement set in a beautiful and more or less idyllic landscape. And so we see our protagonists against a backdrop of fields, meadows, and orchards, listening to the sounds of nature, delighting in the harmony and beauty all around them. This setting creates an exceptionally poetic atmosphere within which the story takes place. Jurewicz captivates and moves his reader with the graceful simplicity and singular warmth of his narration. A True Ballad About Love is a ”tale” that gives its readers renewed capacity to experience emotion, a homage to that truest — and most bittersweet — of sentiments. (Of course, like a lot of great books, this one doesn’t end on a happy note.)
There are more than 31,000 publishers registered in Poland. However, the market is highly concentrated. The 300 largest publishing firms still hold almost 98 per cent of it. More »
