The Issa Valley

Thomas was born in the village of Gine at that time of year when a ripe apple thumps to the ground during an afternoon lull. So a boy's life begins in a winding river valley on the Polish-Russian border at the start of the twentieth century, where time is measured by seasonal rhythms and ancient songs. Capturing a vanished world of pine forests and water snakes, ghosts and devils, Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz's richly imagined coming-of-age tale is a magical evocation of childhood, and what it means to leave it behind.