Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Upright Heart: A Novel
The Upright Heart: A Novel
The Upright Heart: A Novel
Ebook195 pages3 hours

The Upright Heart: A Novel

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

The Upright Heart chronicles the return from Brooklyn of a Jewish man, Wolf, to his native Poland soon after World War II. He is haunted by the memory of his Catholic lover, Olga, whom he abandoned to marry a woman of his own faith and start a new life in America, and who perished sheltering the parents and younger sister he left behind. Harassed on the streets of postwar Poland, Wolf is watched over by the spirits of those who died during and after the war but have yet to let go. His story is woven together with those of others, living and dead, Catholic and Jew, including the deceased students of a school for girls, a battalion of fallen German soldiers, and an orphan boy who wanders the streets of Krakow, believing in a magic pill he has conjured up as a way to survive.

Set amid the ruins of the Holocaust and the Nazis' total war, this haunting novel is at once a page-turning drama and a meditation on what it means to be human, part of a community, alive. The Upright Heart's dreamlike qualities and fluent lyricism draw the reader toward a consecrated realm, while its narrative force guides the story into the present, where survivors and their children, beset by the devastations of the past, struggle alongside the dead to perceive and appreciate the beauty of that which remains and that which might yet be.

Julia Ain-Krupa is the author of Roman Polanski: A Life in Exile (Praeger, 2010). She was born and raised in New York City, and spent her early years in Krakow, Poland. In 2012, she received a creative writing Fulbright scholarship to Poland, where this novel was conceived. She lives in Tel Aviv and New York City.

"Stylistic virtuosity, penetrating emotional power, and a post-apocalyptic vision ... a brilliant literary achievement... . Julia Ain-Krupa gives us something luminous." —Philip K. Jason, Jewish Book Council 

"The Upright Heart is unlike anything I have ever read. It is hard for me to put into words how it is remarkable because, in surprising ways, this book exists in a place beyond words. It takes place in Poland. It is a family saga, a ghost story, and a perfect love story. World War II is the sinkhole around which the characters and events revolve, faster and faster–a feeling familiar to those of us who still have nightmares about the Holocaust. At the end of the tunnel are light, and stars, and understanding. I cried constantly while reading it, and remembered again, fleetingly, that life is impossibly precious, that reading is religion; it is one of the best things I've read." —Liana Finck, author of A Bintel Brief: Love and Longing in Old New York

"The Upright Heart is a poetic, beautifully written novel that presents, in a moving way, the fates and memories of both Catholics and Jews creating their new reality in post –World War II Poland. The gifted young author shows here an unusually well-tuned sensibility." ⎯Irena Grudzinska Gross, Princeton University

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 13, 2016
ISBN9780990004394
The Upright Heart: A Novel

Related to The Upright Heart

Related ebooks

Cultural Heritage Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Upright Heart

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    The Upright Heart - Julia Ain-Krupa

    Qabook_preview_excerpt.html[˒FrNYMLq.GY@VUnH txo_tՏK gv@Nw}Y<^~?yi>6↑_|ŧ>{Ϸ|sW16a}ߴ_n/ج-9C{=4-MZG(M{ 5v&]3ZOwo5kyn4`/M49\Ss#.M1@,Ki8&wy4cXµyoX46~jq8c.=8`8?sl3 0yspPЮ^9M}DMЌ"dm|ҰcgbiW_-a9̑I?zN}7KX1)Ӕ6EbŎ#&1.yF 5jO|'4$<7sYN6a4E;?QYtk*I`8*4es`c04sΗmN9a?4ɴجc.O8_mb7A cuyy C8{;y&S:txy:?NaEGG?a K^Ք k oL|#i晎rχ~Q)G^aS|Y\`q_&Nz/)r%8{`+l|؁y#,`3C3b`éQD Kc},y+/͟2c\|@~j HGkͿv+Lfz0 `S2A=?> Ucd 9rU8t|9iy=[~ uu>w#,8FDqQ87\"%s`='vp-x Ì#"B>oi-pV GL(#AL)0it8B Kop4{;ۉ㷈脡u҈|\ztpY0䐮c){18H(LKφ4n 4„-Be#aB< Jtf3;brK9^L?22m*gd3fbs&sm3'5p!8Qb;t< 0k(#9'Hrs}Ɂv>b|K9U 7,7FxAB(Y'X:X3xZ1  ?7 nm] 3Zi3xq[@ 0fgb\)=3QP-0Gg~ne0ozkOݟoyJx+V7+-h=Hs0Ws3"0,8,X 6V,kQ?y۬WnpIPvs: 5tbiHK*ATL6?UQה4#I^.[Ñ- `~ҽ4/'.!=Rq@lxVIX۲o_e0BFDHL0Bk>FOfh&Lq>ƪȦѕ_~=\b h֜m0U -V]8*5[_ꦯX(Pjֺ &CYh"%iZ%DP[c[@= \%S[}i f*z]L%p&A4sFHL`m1Mpu{#_GyC]tȓpŒV<})iN%[i*.\G8/ϰeBvc]Ff4G:C4Ք /OVmT$pDO+g,V0غ 0\鉵>R?JFR3?p??K &х$O?;%n1 Ц+bRz$2gy>71tP,3Hf$XܒwەEr/ A_jp:*{qD5TqXYqTSU5{ G72(+'y29dS`z>*ES7RfU T]$z/2m#1@"AWمOJ!z9 ʪ:6,[oYf *%jHv~^nG'VGAȷT]jv7Nuk0 ekH ؖQ,3TL9z#4߲k@^m-Þh6'h/!j8*oRf%ꤨKŌl9cYV> L4gfнhcoda>Z⻨ᔖwhܷN5cgKZc* Ӧ8ؗ兩z5QU>-'l~Ǟ]zw{PEJtz.8;ͻn]ᐃ<>@R UԸ"P Q+uj{@so)1P&c^-Ӽ,ZK/פֿ˓n8TW@65utfi'߇ iZ6"[}?ƈ|W1YWEP[e_%Mq j|͚E4Rn^:c^ o?Buspy"I ˁM-FՔ{ȼJɯ o(u~Λ0ۯxݔPNIhxl"~NeζwmgV>׹v#Se%,cĨ6Nlʲ04>`/`h$R[O֎-U): {Qفm޲X,5[xT !ݦJM y/U:wx9(~rjIu[Ax}mXL҅-/(MyM8t$,n^\8DeQqy*bReUYnmwk0)Z :Z㶾ό$>X 8!.xUE-l\3{LR"}Rxɀq)"تmħ2KFVjżtQj ~@=Rv?Z4;fdS% u2!JjpeܪFf'Q dXsZO+пkx˲ɫL@}AغJܟ~Y$BtL n%:}@̅ۙVw[M5[vka~grރ qĂX>*n xJ^7穘tYNk5>D gżk9@E5 &d!u\h.]g⴩*oq)Q6y =4UhuX{bz]UIiQCITD(qb*- vIرntyeya#3=Q{i)uZT&~ՌӁH9R-^sT{N 㯚z,mjk|. 3dXk>{b GxW~Qlmzh=Au'$8[ )$PٮlۡnW=?y?nVOhl ߇9l!ec[~Δ-$쟪tZpC=ƮRuE$*ybJ*U::m5Avoy1M1dixA(\>oy c`[Yu%ot! ->ćZUQ?wXNf;\ry5 OlV{cWfCabק^z)P@ʫ -X@LwYgvBꏞHF^zuX?j.`j6uofnuyQ7Qw7L7Z|v %μ֒gRXk-tLM?oXg|kا8+JH-X0m׿|ܽ4xo>MN(aVʠy86d6 jx{nTEdB\IoCL* Wo @Po2YF0 xW{:t"ކ [_V;XVVKMey-7(kFO[+|=n?2aگ;ezې:w BzsiFlY&j.\/ۅ2zGՃ*y"`ë+ID ӊp]C}i[g/TX%kj`d{0gFf\%Jį.Olg J~E|b=
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1