Kathy Golski falls in love with a handsome Polish medical student, Olek, in Sydney in the 1960's. Olek is the only child of Jewish parents; together the family survived the Holocaust, before coming to Australia to start a new life. Kathy is fascinated by the culture and history of the family, but overwhelmed by the demands of her new mother-in-law, Mamushka, who has no notion of personal boundaries when it comes to her only child. Olek and Kathy have three children and move to Canberra. While the children are still very young, Olek is killed in a cycling accident. Kathy describes the grieving process and the story of falling in love with the man, another Pole, who happened to be staying in Kathy's house at the time of the accident. With enormous patience, this man, an anthropologist, takes Kathy and her creative, unconventional children under his wing, moving them to PNG for a period so he can complete his study. Intertwined in this wonderful story of love, loss, hope and the chaos of family life are wonderful descriptions of how Kathy develops as an artist."--Provided by publisher.
