With Love from Poland is a young adult story set in 1920 Cracow, where, against the backdrop of a prosperous textile town, young Helena Pawlowski encounters her future husband Jan Jasinski. Knocked off her heels by her chance meeting with the “…brash young man with fiery red hair and brilliant blue eyes”, Helena forms a friendship destined to take an unusual turn as political events change and challenge them to take on new purpose.

The evolution of an underground group to protect their friends and family from the Nazis in 1939 introduces the history that Poland was affected by Hitler before most other countries and suffered some of the biggest hits as well as cultivating the most resistance.

As Helena and Jan’s world expands and their relationship evolves, With Love from Poland immerses young adult to adult readers in this world, complete with diagrams about the underground resistance movement’s structure, dialogue between characters who build the premise and resistance, and threats that lead the group to determine they must attempt to flee everything familiar, even though it may already be too late: “By midmorning the group had come to two decisions. First, that they should leave as soon as possible and second, that they would begin life anew in America. The decision as to how they would get to America seemed impossibly complicated. There was no good way of out Poland at that point.”

Especially notable is how quickly the Second World War intrudes into the lavish and rich lives of the Polish people, and how ordinary citizens become activists, then refugees from their own beloved land and fellow citizens.  The journeys they all must take, from cultural heritage and connections to political revelations, resistance, and struggle, come to life in a story that perfectly captures the politics and social issues of its times.

Weaving historical facts with cultural insights about the Polish people and add romance into a young adult saga that moves far beyond politics to show how personal relationships become affected and impacted by political and social change and it’s evident that With Love from Poland offers a special brand of educational opportunity not usually afforded to young adult readers.

It’s especially recommended for readers of other literature of the times, such as The Diary of Anne Frank, who would receive deeper inspections of Nazi impacts on daily lives through the fictional eyes of protagonists who face many difficult choices.

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer

Midwest Book Review