Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

Title: Swimming in the Dark
Author: Tomasz Jedrowski
Genre: Fiction, Coming-of-age story, LGBT literature

Jedrowski's debut novel follows Ludwik in communist-era Poland, as he falls in love with Janusz at a summer camp. While the novel's LGBT themes are subtly interwoven into the fabric of the story, they remain the driving force of the narrative. One reviewer commented that it was reminiscent of Aciman's "Call Me By Your Name" insofar as its historical context, European setting, and evocative, poetic prose. This description seems apt, as the author's writing is highly sensual and descriptive, like Aciman's, though the setting will immerse readers in Jedrowski's native Poland, giving them a broader political context of the time period, as well as the land and cityscapes throughout. This book will be sure to please fans of Aciman's writing, as well as some historical fiction readers looking for a work from a contemporary and unique European voice. The story is tender and poignant, and also draws several parallels with James Baldwin's seminal "Giovanni's Room". At just shy of 200 pages, the novel is the perfect summer read for anyone looking for a story of substance which depicts and questions the ethics of Poland's restrictive communist regime, while also capturing the nostalgic beauty and resilience of its ancient culture and more secretive love affairs.

-Adam

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The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard

When Aron was eight years old, his large Jewish family moved from their impoverished Polish village to Warsaw so his father could take a better job. His older brothers also found work and his mother took in laundry. Aron and his younger brother attended school. But their relatively better circumstances did not last long. The German army soon marched into Poland and into Warsaw. Eventually they established the Warsaw Ghetto, literally walling in the Jewish population, forcing 400,000 people into a small area of the city. Families had to double and triple up. Not only shelter, but food, medicine, fuel and clothing were in very short supply. Families began to rely on their smallest children for support. The children were able to leave the ghetto through small openings in the wall and then return, smuggling in the necessities of life. Aron joined a gang engaged in this activity. It was risky labor and getting caught could be fatal. Consequently, life became cheap. The children became inured to the pain and death of others, easily betraying and sacrificing cohorts to protect themselves. Aron lost all the members of his family, one by one, to disease and deportation. Then his fellow gang members either died or turned against him. Eventually he was put out of his own home by a squatter family and nearly died on the streets. Only the efforts of Dr. Janusz Korczak, a real life hero who advocated for and protected children even before the war, saved his life. Dr. Korczak found and brought Aron into his orphanage. Eventually, under the patient care of the doctor, Aron recovered his strength and, more importantly, his ability to empathize with others. He became a valuable assistant to Korczak, accompanying him on the begging excursions needed to feed the orphans. All in the ghetto were in bodily danger, but Aron’s humanity had been saved. Few stories on this subject have a happy ending but the right unhappy ending can be uplifting. 

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