Push Not the River FROM THE PUBLISHER
A panoramic and epic novel in the grand romantic style, Push Not the River is the rich story of Poland in the late 1700s--a time of heartache and turmoil as the country's once peaceful people are being torn apart by neighboring countries and divided loyalties. It is then, at the young and vulnerable age of seventeen, when Lady Anna Maria Berezowska loses both of her parents and must leave the only home she has ever known.
With Empress Catherine's Russian armies streaming in to take their spoils, Anna is quickly thrust into a world of love and hate, loyalty and deceit, patriotism and treason, life and death. Even kind Aunt Stella, Anna's new guardian who soon comes to personify Poland's courage and spirit, can't protect Anna from the uncertain future of the country.
Anna, a child no longer, turns to love and comfort in the form of Jan, a brave patriot and architect of democracy, unaware that her beautiful and enigmatic cousin Zofia has already set her sights on the handsome young fighter. Thus Anna walks unwittingly into Zofia's jealous wrath and darkly sinister intentions.
Forced to survive several tragic events, many of them orchestrated by the crafty Zofia, a strengthened Anna begins to learn to place herself in the way of destiny--for love and for country. Heeding the proud spirit of her late father, Anna becomes a major player in the fight against the countries who come to partion her beloved Poland.
Push Not the River is based on the true eighteenth century diary of Anna Maria Berezowska, a Polish countess who lived through the rise and fall of the historic Third of May Constitution. Vivid, romantic, and thrillingly paced, it paints the emotional and unforgettable story of the metamorphosis of a nation--and of a proud and resilient young woman.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Tumultuous times in late 18th-century Poland are the backdrop for this stiffly written historical romance based on the unpublished diary of Countess Anna Maria Berezowska. In 1791, 17-year-old Anna, orphaned by the near-simultaneous deaths of her parents, has come to live with her aunt and uncle on their country estate. Guileless and innocent, Anna falls in love with handsome neighbor Jan Stelnicki, awakening the wrath of her conniving cousin Zofia, who wants him for herself. After Zofia orchestrates a disastrous picnic, Anna is left alone in the woods, and is brutally raped by a stranger. Married off against her will immediately after the attack, she soon discovers that she is pregnant. In the same year, the Third of May Constitution is signed by King Stanislaw, giving peasants human rights. Many Polish nobles are enraged by the new laws, and call for Catherine of Russia to deliver them. The conflict divides Poland, swallowing up Anna, Zofia and Jan, as well as Zofia's brutal brother, Walter, who signs on with Catherine. Martin devotes more space to romantic drama than to historical detail, but her characters are nonetheless caricaturish: even the conflicted, flamboyant Zofia fails to spring fully to life. Martin's tendency to tell rather than show slows the narrative, and few readers will make it to the overheated finale, in which Anna flees the victorious Russian army as it advances on Warsaw. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
At the end of the 18th century, the Polish nobility watched nervously as French peasants toppled their king. Some nobles advocated reforms extending rights to the lower classes, while others insisted on maintaining absolute power even though it entailed aligning themselves with Catherine, empress of Russia. Against this tumultuous background, Countess Anna Maria Berekowska faces her own turmoil. Left an orphan at 17, she moves to her aunt and uncle's estate and meets Jan Stelnicki, a count who supports reform. Unfortunately, their mutual attraction is resented by Anna's cousin, Zofia, who wants Jan for herself. Anna's life is further complicated when she is forced into marriage with a man interested only in her fortune. Even though misunderstanding and coincidences keep Anna and Jan apart, their ultimate union is as certain as Poland's demise. Based on an actual 18th-century diary, the narrative sometimes sags under too much historical detail but holds readers because of the cast of well-developed characters and the need to see how Anna and her young son will survive the latest crisis. While public library patrons of Polish ancestry may feel a special affinity for this first novel, other historical romance fans will enjoy it as well.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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