How do you pronounce those #@&%! names?

I've heard some really interesting pronunciations of the names in One Amber Bead when I've done readings and book clubs! I've listed some of the more unusual pronunciations of Polish letters in the page titled Polish 101, but here's a little cheat sheet for pronouncing the names of the major characters. Any vowel that's given as its alphabetic symbol is pronounced in the short form--so a is pronounced as in father, e is pronounced as in egg, etc. Any vowel repeated is pronounced in the long form--so oo is pronounced as in tote, uu is pronounced as in flute, etc. The stressed syllables are marked.

Evelina--Evelin'a

Eva--E'va

Mikosz--Mee'koosh

Jadwiga--Yadvee'ga

Jadzia--Ya'ja

Apolonya--Apoloo'neea

Stasiu--Sta'shuu
Bialek--Bya'lek
Czarnecki--Zarne'kee
Zadora--Zador'a

Niedzieliska--Nyedjelees'ka

If you really want to sound Polish, try rolling the r's. A rolled r sounds a bit more like a soft d than an r, so for example, Marek would sound more like Ma'dek and Zadora more like Zado'da.