Kathryn Gaweda: Zofia, Kartoniert / Broschiert

Klappentext

Born beneath the ringing bell of a small Polish village in 1925, Zofia Nowak enters the world in a house warmed by bread, prayer, and the steady hands of women who know how to endure. Her childhood is shaped by seasons, faith, and family-until war fractures the rhythm of ordinary life.

When invasion comes, Zofia grows from daughter to nurse, from witness to protector. In field hospitals trembling under artillery and shifting regimes, she learns that survival demands more than courage-it demands choice. Amid chaos, she meets Olek, a quiet soldier with steady hands, and together they choose love in a world determined to dismantle it. But war is only the beginning.

From the ruins of Europe to the promise of Canada, Zofia and Olek rebuild piece by fragile piece-raising children in a new country while carrying the weight of the old one. On Toronto's Roncesvalles Avenue and later in the growing suburbs of Mississauga, their home becomes an anchor for a sprawling Polish family navigating assimilation, ambition, marriage, and generational change.

As the decades unfold, old wounds surface in new ways. Sons strain under expectation. Daughters carve out independence from tradition. Love arrives-sometimes gently, sometimes with fracture. And through it all, Zofia remains the quiet center: baking bread, planting gardens, holding newborn grandchildren, and watching carefully as the family she built stretches toward futures she could never have imagined.

ZOFIA is a sweeping historical novel about war and migration, motherhood and marriage, resilience and reinvention. It is the story of one woman's life-and the generations shaped by her strength.

For readers who cherish epic family sagas, immigrant journeys, and richly drawn historical fiction, ZOFIA is a powerful reminder that survival is not the end of the story. It is only the beginning.