absolutely loved this book! it was such a great read, i would highly recommend this books to my friends and family if they wanted an excellent book

Set in the Depression Era, this story takes the reader on a journey like no other. I enjoyed the relationship that was established between Rena and Frankie. I will be reading more by this author.

A family saga about two Polish brothers, Henryk and Adi, with their families, loves, jealousies and secrets against the backdrop of the history of Poland in the first half of the twentieth century. Switching between the two brothers narratives, the story is powerful and emotional.

Another historical fiction, another story of family, love, sacrifice. This one is about Poland but moves to Australia covering different times and different countries. Again there are secrets, there is the suffering brought on by the war and there is family loyalty.

It is a well written book and has some great characters. It deals with family problems, upsets and eventually forgiveness. It is a book that brings to life how families dealt with the after-effects of war and it did it with beautifully.

Again I enjoyed it and would recommend but might need to take a break from historical fiction for a while.

This book was so good! I absolutely ADORE books that center around family! And it travels through decades!! I’m in love. Please go read this!!

The Tulip Tree is a complex family saga, taking readers through a volatile sweep of time in an ever-changing Poland from 1920 to 1954: a Poland rife with invasion, war, violence, pogroms, and the extermination of Jews. Henryk and Adi Radecki are brothers who couldn’t be less alike. Henryk is a successful industrialist until WWII, when he is arrested on a number of occasions. His dream in life is to build bridges, but munitions is what he is forced into. Adi is a veterinarian, a sentimental man who dislikes his brother’s love of hunting. After his first wife’s suicide in Siberia, he takes his son to Moscow to seek repatriation into Poland, which is denied. Fortuitously, he meets his estranged brother, who succeeds where Adi cannot. Once in Poland, Adi marries Ela, a woman considerably younger than himself, and they have a daughter and a son. Henryk isn’t so lucky, he’s unhappy in his marriage to Lucia and covets Ela, as he had Adi’s first wife. The rivalry between the brothers is exacerbated by Lucia’s jealousy over her failure to have more children. Although happily married, Adi often disappears for days at a time, leaving Ela to wonder where he goes and what he does. Turning to Henryk for consolation has far-reaching consequences for Ela.

McCourt writes with transparent honesty, taking us deeply inside her characters’ lives and those of their children as they grow up in a country under occupation. Her passion for her story shows in the everyday ordinariness of events as well as the horrors. Although the brothers form the story’s framework, this is mainly Ela and her son Stefan’s tale. The Tulip Tree is vivid storytelling at its best, atmospheric, and engrossing: a powerful and compelling read from beginning to end, and one readers will not soon forget.

I loved the writing in this story, it showed little flaws and managed to be gripping while still being enjoyable. McCourt shows a bursting talent when it comes to her writing. I find myself excited to see what else she has to offer, great work!

3.5★s
The Tulip Tree is the second novel by prize-winning Australian author, Suzanne McCourt. Henryk Radecki may not admit it, but since their youth, he has always resented his naïve younger brother, and had disdain for this clearly inferior man. In early 20th Century Russian-ruled Poland, Henryk trains as an engineer, with an overriding ambition to build bridges that is frustrated in the ironworks he helps manage; Adam becomes a veterinarian.

Adam’s focus is always the animals, no matter whose, a potential source of grief; Henryk is resourceful, charismatic and influential, and is surprised to find himself coveting what Adam has. The consequences of his impulsive actions are ever present during their lives, the deaths and births, the wars and imprisonment, the subjugation under different occupying forces, the times of plenty and times of extreme hardship.

Ultimately, Henryk’s betrayal puts them at the mercy of Poland’s post-war secret police.

McCourt’s story spans over fifty years of this extended family and what they endure as their country is ravaged by war and occupation. If her characters are not necessarily wholly endearing, who can say how they would behave the same shoes? In her acknowledgements, McCourt reveals that parts of her novel are inspired by the factual accounts related by her husband’s family.

The map and family tree will be appreciated by readers with such a large cast of characters with (multiple) Polish names and their travels. The blurb might be a little misleading, as only the last few pages are devoted to the Australian setting.

In a literary environment saturated with twentieth Century historical novels, and with the millions of different perspectives of this time that could be written from, an author needs to overcome the exposure fatigue readers may be suffering, and deliver something original. McCourt gives the reader a beautifully written story about ordinary people in extraordinary times, meeting unanticipated challenges.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing.

"Perhaps we only ever have one true chance at anything and the rest, if offered, is always second best .."

Is this always true? Do you not believe in second chances? Or even third?
This question encompasses much of the story of the book. Second chance in love, second chance in life, second chance in a different place, a second chance after living under the tyranny of the Russians, the Germans and the Russians again,, and even a second chance after going thru the horrors of a concentration camp.

Beautifully written with relatable.characters and situations, this book will take you in a journey thru the lives of Polish brothers Henry and Adam Radecki. From the 1920s Poland through the 1950s Australia you'll love, live, cry and laugh with them and their families and the moral choices taken that threaten the very bond that forms a family.

Henryk and Adam Radecki’s are Polish brothers, eldest Henryk is rather serious and younger Adi is much more sensitive. The story follows the brother’s lives and experiences from the early 1920’s and ends in 1954. This time frame covers: The Polish Soviet war with the Russians, the Germans invading the country during WW II and finishes in the Australian Snowy Mountains.

The brothers are extremely jealous of each other and it’s a constant issue between them. Henryk is married, a rich and a successful industrialist and sadly he and his wife Lucia didn't have the large family they both wanted. Adi is a vet, he marries twice and his second wife Elzbieta is younger than him. Henryk thinks his brother rushed into his second marriage, Ela looks very similar to his first wife Kasia, this causes tension and it gets worse when the couple have their second child Stefan.

Over the years, the brothers are caught up in difficult situations, have to live with the choices they made, the consequences and kept secrets. The conflict and war in Poland is horrific, both brothers suffer terribly, and so do their families.
The Tulip Tree is a story about love, loss, sacrifice, family, loyalty, suffering, secrets and war. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and four stars from me.

Suzanne McCourt The Tulip Tree The Text Publishing Company 2021

Thank you NetGalley for this uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this novel because of the connection between Poland and the Snowy Mountains of south-eastern Australia. That the story also includes a period with which I was familiar through the Polish film Cold War was enticing. I was rewarded: the resilience, love, small facets of humour that glimmered through that film, along with the fear and cruelty, are abundant in this novel. The strength of the people, and complexity of the events was brought home to me when reference is made to the Royal Palace in Warsaw being opened to the community by the communists – a venue where during my visit to Poland I saw two of the most remarkable Rembrandts (recently authenticated). The public opening did not take place in a vacuum, or apart from suffering. It is the way in which McCourt takes the characters through so many multifaceted situations, complete with ironies, personal conflicts and world events that makes this novel a thoroughly rewarding and valuable read.

Two brothers, Henryk and Adam, open the story, a short deer hunting episode illustrating their differences and relationship. Kasia, who was betrothed initially to Henryk and after he dishonours the betrothal, marries Adam, is a character whose presence is felt throughout the brothers’ lives. Adam becomes a veterinarian, and Henryk is successful in business. Both professions lead them into conflict throughout the political periods covered by the novel – the aftermath of World War 1, the pre-war period leading to World War 11 and the war, the immediate aftermath and into the 1950s. The novel is divided into four parts, Part One covering 1920 – 1922, when Adam returns home to Kasia and their son Marek after having been forced into the White Army; Part Two 1923 – 1939 where on the personal level Kasia hovers over Henryk’s life, and possibly less consciously over Adam’s, the brothers are professionally content but the portents as well as vicissitudes leading to war are felt by them, their families and the community; Part Three the 1939 – 1944 war years, including life in Ravensbruk, based on experiences shared with the author; and Part Four 1945 – 1954, where the characters suffer their personal complications as well as those associated with Poland under Russian ‘liberation’; and life in Australia, valued and almost loved, while longing for family and Poland.

This is an immense novel, with its personal stories woven throughout the political narrative. Personal political differences are subsumed, but never eradicated, with the complexities of living during the two wars and their aftermaths poignantly written. When a German visits one flat to see the vet about his dog, and in the flat below a Jewish family is being hidden, the proximity of fear, courage, and professional endeavour work together to give this novel a depth that would not be possible without the subtleties with which the characters are depicted. The tulip tree of the title with its image of a bare tree being covered in tulip blooms provides Adam with a sense of awe, courage, and hope. At the same time as thinking this, he imagines his son and he eating pierogi for supper: imagery of hope and domesticity woven yet again into story that resonates with human needs, tragedies and joy.

‘Perhaps we only ever have one true chance at anything and the rest, if offered, is always second best.’

Henryk and Adam (Adi) Radecki are brothers. Their relationship is complex and competitive and is set against the tumultuous background of Poland’s relationship with Russia and the impact of World War II. Their story unfolds over thirty years: starting in the 1920s and ending in Australia’s Snowy Mountains in 1954.

Henryk, unhappily married, becomes a rich and successful industrialist. Adi, a devoted veterinarian, marries, is widowed, and then remarries. His second wife, Elzbieta, reminds many of his first wife Kasia. Elzbieta (Ela) and her son, Stefan, are at the centre of this story full of tragedy and family secrets. Each of the main characters will have cause to reflect on choices made and their consequences. Adi, shaped by time spent in Kazakhstan and the death of Kasia, can be difficult. Henryk is competitive, and this has far-reaching consequences.

We follow the characters through heartbreak, loss and tragedy, experiencing both aspects of World War II and the communist rule of Poland with them. It is an emotional ride, full of frailty and triumph. I was drawn into the novel by Adi, held there by Kasia and Ela, and reminded of Poland’s turbulent history. Ms McCourt imbues her characters with life, rendering them human against a backdrop of change and suffering.

I enjoyed this novel and am still thinking about some of the characters and their choices.

‘He closed his eyes and saw his tulip tree in that Tajik village all those years ago, its gaunt reaching arms.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A story of two brothers (who couldn't be more different) in Poland and Russia from the 1920's to the 1950"s. So much history packed in this novel . A must read for anyone with an interest in Poland"s history. Beautifully written, a novel of family.,loyalty and love,

Highly recommended..

When I picked up this book I thought that I would read about the relationship of two brothers in Poland. What I got instead is a historical fiction centered mainly around the wife (wives?) of the younger brother. Not a disappointment at all!
The novel gives a great description of the era between 1920s to post-WW2 times in Poland and Russia-controlled territories. A book of second chances and second choices, forgiveness and family.

Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this poignant story is mostly set in 1920s Poland, controlled by Germany and then Russia, through 1954 in Australia What struck me most is the hauntingly evocative writing which captured me from the very beginning. The horrendous concentration camp descriptions are vivid and detailed, the emotions raw and full of despair, laid out bare without sheltering. In stark contrast there are also times of joy, love and perseverance.

From childhood, two brothers Henryk and Adam Radecki were dramatically different and that difference widened the chasm of jealousy and competition between them which spilled over into adulthood. It meant awkward social situations for them and their wives, Lucia and Ela, as they navigated daily life. Henryk became a wealthy industrialist, Adam a vet. During the war we see how people were treated like intolerable vermin. The two mighty forces Germany and Russia crushed people physically and mentally, especially Polish Jews. Readers are taken through the stories of these men and their wives as well as children Roza and Marek. It is amazing to watch personalities unfold and change under various sets of circumstances and choices made.

Historical Fiction and Women's Fiction readers shouldn't miss this. It is not a fluffy gentle book but one so full of depth and emotions it hurts. Unmissable.

My sincere thank you to Text Publishing and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this achingly beautiful book.

I really enjoyed this read. Filled with familiy drama and a great plot line when Adi’s wife Ela and son Stefan provide an interesting twist!
I found it a pleasure to read and loved learning more about the location, the writing was so vivid and beautiful that I could almost see and taste the words with them.
I would recommend The Tulip Tree to anyone that loves historical fiction, stories about loyalty, love and suffering and everything in between.

Details:
The Tulip Tree
By Suzanne McCourt
364 Pages
Available June 1, 2021

“Perhaps we only ever have one true chance at anything and the rest, if offered, is always second best.."

The Tulip Tree by Suzanne McCourt is a historical fiction novel set in the 1920’s about Poland and their relationship with Russia during the war, through revolution and invasion. Eventually leading to the year of 1954 in the snowy mountains in Australia.
The story follows the Radecki boys: Henryk & Adam, and captures the love and jealousy between them and the trials and tribulations that they and their families must face.

This book is so rich and intimate, but it moves quite quickly at the beginning, so it was hard for me to visualize and create an atmosphere/surrounding for the context. But a few chapters in I realized that maybe the rush and lack of imagery was trying to add for a more chaotic feel – which makes complete sense considering this is based around the war. It was around Chapter 8 that I really started to get hooked, my imagination went wild, and I could not stop reading.
The love and sacrifice throughout this book was so beautiful. Truly impressed with Suzanne’s work here!

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