One Amber Bead Reviews

This review appeared in the Big Rapids Pioneer. I appreciate Cathy's review particularly because she really understands what One Amber Bead is all about.

Up and Down the River – “One Amber Bead” by Rebecca Thaddeus

Review by Cathy Johnson

Family matters.  And it matters deeply in Rebecca Thaddeus’s novel “One Amber Bead,” released this week by Plain View Press.  It matters first in the author’s name, or shall we say pen name, for Rebecca Thaddeus is really FSU Professor of Language and Literature Elizabeth (Betty) Stolarek, and her nom de plume is a combination of the first names of her two children.  Family matters, indeed.

Family is at the heart of her first novel “One Amber Bead,” in both the real and fictional world, for the author drew meaningfully from the true-life experiences of her own mother and mother-in-law in weaving the story of Eveline Bialek of Chicago and Jadwiga Czarnecki of Niedzieliska, Poland.  “For Evelyn Zdunek and Maria Stolarek with love and admiration” reads the simple dedication.  And after the reader has finished the tale woven by the author, one cannot help but admire not only the evocative writing, but the lives that inspired it.

Set mainly in the 1930s and 40s, but actually covering 1933-1985, alternating between Evie’s life in Chicago and her cousin Jadzia’s in Poland and carried along through the written correspondence of the two cousins, “One Amber Bead” juxtaposes the experiences of the two women.  Evie’s life in Chicago, firmly anchored in the Polish enclave and its cultural and religions traditions, mirrors the immigrant experience of thousands who came to this country and settled near friends and family and perpetuated the language and culture of the homeland.  Not always an easy experience, to be sure, but contrasted with Jadzia’s challenging life back in the Polish village of Niedzieliska, it should have been easier than it was.

The cousins share hopes and dreams in their letters, but they also openly voice their fears, both of what happens within their families and also in the larger world, as the Nazi occupation of Poland affects Jadzia and the onset of World War II envelops them both.  Careful and consistent use of Polish dialogue by the author, and food and cultural references lend an air of authenticity to both story lines.  Stolarek’s depth of feeling for the characters she has created is evident in her detailed description of both the characters and their settings.  Yet the reader comes to care for more than just the two women.  Other family members on both sides of the ocean figure heavily in the tale, and the reader is drawn to worry about their fates as well.  More often than not, the concept of family is what helps Jadzia and Evie survive the harsh realities of their lives.

As much a love story as it is historical fiction, “One Amber Bead” demonstrates the importance of family bonds in time of great travail and in times of celebration.  And as for the “one amber bead” of the title, you’ll just have to read this compelling and uplifting work to make that connection.  Suffice it to say that the golden warmth of amber, “the gift of Poland’s ancient pine forests,” will suffuse you when you first read of babcia’s necklace and will stay with you even after you have finished the remarkable tale of Evie and Jadzia.