The Strange Life of Walenty Karnowski: The Rabbi's Illegitimate Grandson by Gerald R Schmidt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book has a lot of good History in it, both of Poland and the Catholic and Jewish Religions.

The book does not have any Chapters, but goes on by date beginning on August 30, 1841 in what is Prussia, where a young girl Marta Nering, 15 has an illicit encounter with 23 year old Moyzhesh Karnowski. He is what we call a sexual addict. The result is the birth of Walenty.

The story has some sexual contact, but that is not the main story. I enjoyed all the great information on the Catholic Religion, which is the center of most of the Peasants lives. On a side note I have some dear friends who are polish, and a lot of the customs celebrated in this book are still celebrated. There is also quite a bit about the Jewish Feasts, and it was interesting how many of them are at the same time.

This book came about when the author was researching his Mother's Great-Grandfather he wasn't able to find much information on, so he incorporated what he did know with a bit of fiction.

You will find yourself glued to the book, there are a lot of scary things that happen. Loved the descriptions of the country side, with the woods and palaces! Neat place. The scary part is the Devils doing, along with the coven of Witches. This is a Good over Evil book that took place back in the 1800's.



I was provided with a copy of this book by Good Reads, and was not required to give a positive review.