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Gerald was born in 1937 in Chicago, and is the oldest of six children. He attended Catholic schools from 3rd thru 12th grades, and is very grateful for the wonderful education he received. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Illinois in 1966. He was licensed in 1972. He earned an MA in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio in 1996. He spent many years exploring a religious vocation as a priest or monk. He has visited Poland three times, working on a farm in the region of the book. He is currently working on book two of Walenty's life, which deals with the years 1847 and 1848 in Prussia. 1848 is known as the year of the "Spring of the Peoples." It was a year in which revolutions occurred in many places in Europe.
Reviewed by Maureen Timerman for Readers' Favorite
The Strange Life of Walenty Karnowski has a lot of good history in it, both of Poland and the Catholic and Jewish Religions. Sorted by date rather than by chapters, the book begins on August 30, 1841, in 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 content, 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. There is also quite a bit about the Jewish Feasts, and it was interesting how many of them occur 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 him, so he incorporated what he did know with a bit of fiction. You will find yourself glued to this book; there are a lot of scary things that happen. I loved the descriptions of the countryside with the woods and palaces! What a neat place! The scary part is the Devil's doing, along with the coven of Witches. This is a Good over Evil book that took place back in the 1800's.
