Heart and Home: The Journey of a Polish Immigrant Mother with Author Karen Walczyk Prescott

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Karen Walczyk Prescott, author of the book Polish Mother. Karen was born and educated in central and upstate New York.  Inspiration for her second book, Polish Mother, came from three generations of devoted Polish mothers in her life.  Her great-grandmother, a quiet, unassuming woman who traveled through Ellis Island alone at the age of sixteen, lived across the street from the author when she was young.  Tirelessly dedicated to family and Polish immigrants, post WWII, the author’s grandmother was a friend to all.  And finally, the author’s mother, Eugenia, now age 92, who grew up in the Polish community of Syracuse, New York, and instilled the importance of Polish traditions and Catholicism.

The first self-published novella Prescott wrote is Babbling Brook Society, a historical fantasy set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Karen is married, the mother of three, and twice retired, once after twenty years at AT&T, and again after twelve years as a middle school English teacher.  She currently lives in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, where she plays golf, writes and is president of her neighborhood book club.

In my book review, I stated Polish Mother is a creative non-fiction novel that is part family memoir and part historical fiction written about her grandmother (Mary Ann) and her great grandmother (Stella). We even get the chance to meet her great great grandmother Jozefa!

The story takes place, first in Russia-occupied Poland, then on to Ellis Island, Connecticut, and finally New York. Stella arrives penniless after a perilous journey, meets up with her father who left the family a decade earlier to leave escape Poland and marry another woman, and eventually finds the man she will marry. However, even love doesn't solve all Stella's problems as she deals with the prohibition, family tragedy's, the depression, WWII, and her husband's betrayal.

Despite all the losses, this is a book about hope and redemption. It is a book about love and what a mother will do to protect her family. It is a book about what it means to be a Polish Mother - one who honors God, family and country. And how, even after generations in America, Polish families pass on these traditions of prayer, food and patriotism.

Excellent read!

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You can follow Author Karen Walczyk Prescott

Website: https://www.karenwalczykprescott.com/

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@karenwalczyk

 

Purchase Polish Mother on Amazon:

Paperback: https://amzn.to/48vP455

 

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