A revelatory and richly varied collection of Poland’s greatest short stories

A Penguin Classic

Witty, surprising, and sparkling, this anthology is an essential exploration of Polish literature. Its thirty-nine superb stories run the length of the literal and imaginative creation of Poland, from 1918 (when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of colonization by neighboring empires) to the present.

The stories include “Miss Winczewska” by the acclaimed twentieth-century writer Maria Dabrowska, based on her experience of helping to establish a library for soldiers at the Citadel military base in Warsaw in the interwar period; and “In the Shadow of Brooklyn” by Stanislaw Dygat, the comical tale of a young man's envy of what he imagines to be his father's success with women. At the contemporary end is “The Green Children”, a historical story set in 1656 by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, narrated by a Scottish doctor who, as the Polish king's physician, travels about the wilds of Poland and encounters two feral children. Curated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, this anthology is a refreshing and glorious new collection of the best in Polish literature.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.