Irena is a free-spirited young woman in 1930s Warsaw, aspiring to career in the ballet but her life and priorities take a turn when she accidentally meets Stan, a young Varsovian like her, and marries him without convictions. Outbreak of World War Two sets her and her family in dramatically different circumstances. End of the war five and a half years later does not make life any easier as Poland slips into the abyss of Stalinist regime. Irena struggles with her coming of age daughters and realities of life in the country run by the communists. Seeing her best years destroyed by combination of her decisions and circumstances beyond her control she is unable to appreciate what she achieved. She feels betrayed by life and slips into melancholy which in the end leads to her tragic demise. This semi biographical novel takes you for a journey spanning over forty years set around pivoting moments in the history of modern Poland.It is about: - love, but it is not just a romance, - choices, mistakes and consequences, - misplaced passions, - ordinary people living in extraordinary times, - survival in nasty reality, - life of one woman, her name is IRENA