Irina
1378, Poland. Irina Kwasniewska, a farmer’s daughter and servant girl to a wealthy merchant family, is about to lose almost everything dear to her — and begin an unexpected new life. Pregnant by her benefactor’s son, Berek, and turned out of her family’s household for it, Irina arrives back at the town of Poznan, hoping for a better reception at the home of her employers, the Joselewiczes. But the news dies on her lips when she sees the horrific sight before her.
There, in the midst of a crowd of citizens and officials, are the Joselewiczes — including her beloved Berek — tied together on pyres and set alight. Their crime? Being suspected of bringing the plague, swiftly moving across the countryside toward their town. That, and being Jewish. Even the servants, Jewish or Gentile, aren’t spared. Suddenly alone, Irina must fend for herself and for her unborn child in a harsh and dangerous world she is little prepared to navigate.
Thus begins Irina by Philip Warren, a powerful historical novel about the transformation of a bright and curious farm girl into a successful noble businesswoman through nothing but her own daring, ingenuity and fortitude.
A JOURNEY OF DANGER AND DISCOVERY
Under the dark of night and while the pyres still smolder, she sneaks into her employer’s manor, sifting through what little remains of the family’s belongings and cobbling together the trappings of a woman of noble birth — clothing, coin and the one young, frightened servant miraculously spared in the carnage. From that day forward, she would be known as Lady Irina of Gniezno, a bereaved widow, seeking safe passage out of Poznan as far away from the advancing tide of plague as possible.
Her journey is a long one, full of danger and adventure, overland and upriver from Poland through Germany to the dazzling royal city of Paris. More importantly, it is also a kind of spiritual pilgrimage, accompanied by Father Madrosh, a man of the cloth with an encyclopedic knowledge of theology and philosophy. It is through his mentorship that Irina learns not only the ways of the Lord but of politics and strategy. He is her counselor as she grapples with the trauma of that night in Poznan and her disbelief in a just and loving God. It’s a good thing, too, as more scenes of horrific cruelty play out before her along her journey, testing what little faith she lets into her heart.
A SECRET THAT COULD UNDO EVERYTHING
Irina’s true identity must remain a secret from all but her most trusted companions. But like all secrets, hers finds ways of seeping out around the edges of her caution. She makes powerful friends of nobility and royalty along her travels, but also powerful enemies in whose hands the truth of her origins could become her utter undoing.
Vengeance is a particularly strong and consistent theme throughout the novel, examined in complex and nuanced ways through various characters. Without exception, whether it is thwarted or fulfilled, vengeance comes at a steep price to those seeking it. Good and evil are shown for what they are — complex and conflicting forces within us and around us.
Even as Irina reaches her destination, her journey is far from over. A new love, a new home and a newborn find her far from her humble beginnings, but the repercussions of her decisions that fateful day in Poznan have just begun to reveal themselves. Irina is an epic story of one woman’s struggle to free herself of the past, and in so doing, comes face to face with her own feelings of guilt and regret.
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