Dominczyk, D: Lullaby of Polish Girls

Includes an interview featuring Dagmara Dominczyk and Adriana Trigiani

A vibrant, engaging debut novel that follows the friendship of three women from their youthful days in Poland to their complicated, not-quite-successful adult lives

Because of her father's role in the Solidarity movement, Anna and her parents immigrate to the United States in the 1980s as political refugees from Poland. They settle in Brooklyn among immigrants of every stripe, yet Anna never quite feels that she belongs. But then, the summer she turns twelve, she is sent back to Poland to visit her grandmother, and suddenly she experiences the shock of recognition. In her family's hometown of Kielce, Anna develops intense friendships with two local girls-brash and beautiful Justyna and desperately awkward Kamila-and their bond is renewed every summer when Anna returns. The Lullaby of Polish Girls follows these three best friends from their early teenage years on the lookout for boys in Kielce-a town so rough its citizens are called "the switchblades"-to the loss of innocence that wrecks them, and the stunning murder that reaches across oceans to bring them back together after they've grown and long since left home.

Dagmara Dominczyk's assured narrative flashes from the wild summers of the girls' youth to their years of self-discovery in New York and Europe. Her writing is full of grit and guts, and her descriptions of the emotional experiences of her characters resonate with honesty. The Lullaby of Polish Girls captures the passion and drama of friendship, the immigrant's yearning to be known, and the exquisite and wistful transformation of young women coming of age.

Praise for The Lullaby of Polish Girls

"A coming-of-age tale of three young Polish women [that is] brimming with teary epiphanies, betrayal and love, as well as the grit of both New York and Kielce. [It's] Girls with a Polish accent."-The New York Times

"The Lullaby of Polish Girls will make you swoon. Dagmara