The Bond

THE CHILD OF A HARDWORKING peasant farmer, Hana enjoyed an almost idyllic early life. Finding, and marrying her soul mate, she lived happily with him on their little plot of paradise. She gave birth to a daughter and adopted a dearly loved son.

Challenged by tragedy and unusual circumstances, Hana’s faith and the power of family love sustained her.

Then came the Great War. Hana and her family were among the millions of Polish refugees forced to flee. Returning to heart-breaking devastation, they rebuilt, displaying the strength and resilience characteristic of their kind.

And then...

Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland brought the lapankas, resulting, for millions, in family separation, incarceration, slave labour, Lebensborn, the Germinization of Foreign Children, and murder. Infamous Nazi plans tore families and communities apart and changed, forever, the lives of a people who were fundamentally a people of peace.

Will Hana and her family survive? Will loved ones be reunited?

Can they ever return to the idyllic farming life they knew?

This heartwarming story follows Hana's family through three generations. Enriched with vivid description of the Polish countryside and exposition of the history and culture of peasant farmers in Poland, it exposes the challenges faced by these peace-loving peasants, not only as a result of war tearing their nation and their lives apart, but also as the changes brought by Communism and mechanisation impacted on their lifestyles, work habits, and their ownership of the land they loved.



Though it may make you sad, and often angry at the hideous cruelty and injustice to which good people were subjected, you will feel compelled to cheer at the remarkable strength and courage of these tormented people, to admire their innate wisdom, and to cherish the love and faith that sustains them through their trials.