Our Dark and Radiant Land - by Helena Lipstadt (Paperback)

About the Book

Helena Lipstadt's survivor parents fled Poland after the Holocaust vowing never to return. After her parent's deaths, she warily visits and seeks connections with the Polish people.

Book Synopsis

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, Helena Lipstadt's survivor parents fled Poland vowing never to return. Decades later, after her parents' deaths, she warily visits, then returns, again and again. Walking on the city streets where her parents played as children, Helena begins to comprehend the interwoven culture of Jews and Poles. She honors her family's layered history as she seeks and builds connections with the Polish people she meets.

In powerful prose and poems, Lipstadt looks at a bloodstained past with her heart's eyes. Our Dark and Radiant Land is a map to a new place of seeing, where truth and reconciliation coexist.

Review Quotes

"Our Dark and Radiant Land is powerful, hypnotic and unforgettable. It leaves the reader breathless and hungry for more: a literary fix that only a brilliant writer could pull off."

-Laurel Ann Bogen, author of Washing a Language and Psychosis in the Produce Department: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2015

"In Lipstadt's luminous collection, the poet goes in search of love and meaning in a homeland she never knew. The poems dazzle, the images sing and Poland, both present and past, comes to life. It is an elegant, ferocious and heartbreaking triumph."

-Chris Wells, Obie Award-winning writer and performer, founder and host of The Secret City

"Our Dark and Radiant Land is more than history. It's the legacy of war and genocide, the courageous embrace of the present, and an invitation to a possible future. This book is the mastery of spirit, poetry and insight so finely blended that profound loss, longing, and beauty exist honestly together. As readers, we have the opportunity to witness a story of shifting generations alive together in one moment and to hold the unbearable in an inquiry of love."

-Barbara Maria, author of Palace Boulevard and Crossing Time