Australian travel writer Michael Moran was instilled with a love of Poland from an early age through the music of Chopin played to him constantly by his concert-pianist uncle. He has written a sweeping, funny and often touching history of a country which has had to cope with being wedged between Russia and Germany. Historian Norman Davies dubbed Poland ‘God’s playground’ and one would have to agree.

Moran spent much of the early 1990s in Poland, arriving shortly after the fall of Communism, part of a delegation of teachers overseeing the change to a free market economy. Well-versed and eloquent when dealing with Polish history, Moran brings things up to date with Poland’s accession to the EU. With the Polish language now widely spoken in pubs and streets across the land this is a book that is well worth reading and will lead to a greater understanding of a fascinating country.

Review by Julian Mash

A Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland by Michael Moran
Publisher: Granta
£20

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