A Stranger

As a young woman, Róza lost everything that mattered to her: her homeland, an early love, and her career as a violinist. Doomed to feel everywhere a stranger, she nursed dreams of grandeur and vengeance that shadowed the lives of her husband and children. Now in her 60s, Róza visits her daughter on one disastrous day that will bring all the wounds and clashes of the past to the fore - and, perhaps, offer a hope of change. With great psychological depth and vividly metaphorical language, Kuncewiczowa constructs an indelible portrait of a frustrated artist and ambivalent mother. Capricious, manipulative and moved by a titanic rage, Róza is the captivating and horrifying centre of this rediscovered classic of European fiction.