Joanna Hempel, author
Writer and weaver of great history with human lives
Stories of love and war from 20th century Eastern Europe.
The historical novelist — researching family roots in Eastern Europe
Stories from World War 1, the Russian Revolution, the Polish-Soviet war, and World War 2
Chronicles of Love and War (in Polish)
Joanna Hempel, formerly one of Australia's leading playwrights for young people, turned to writing historical novels after researching her family roots in Eastern Europe. Volume 1 of her trilogy Chronicles of War and Love: WANDA was published in Poland in 2022.
Chronicles of War and Love is the fictionalized saga of her extended family in three volumes.
Volume 1 WANDA covers the Eastern Front during WWI and the Russian Revolution.
Volume 2 GEORGE (1918–1939) deals with the Polish-Soviet war of 1920 and leads into WWII.
Volume 3 HENRY (1939–1945) will cover WWII in Eastern Europe, France and England.
Book cover (early edition) of Volume 1, Chronicles of War and Love: WANDA
The English version of Volume 1 WANDA was published 2022.
Reviews — Chronicles of Love and War
"This novel is worth filming. The period of World War I and the recovery of Poland’s independence after 123 years of being wiped off the map of Europe, as well as the description of the life of the nobility under Russian rule, is very rarely depicted in our literature, which makes this novel even more desirable. I impatiently await Volume II."
— Wojciech Wojnarowski, Facebook
“The author from the first page to the last informs us how much is still to be said about Polish/Russian/Lithuanian relations. The novel reveals the perseverance and rebellion in the name of Independent Poland.”
— Granice.pl
"It's hard to break away from this work that so vividly intertwines great history with human fates. This novel touches the heart. I am entranced!"
— Barbara Wysoczanska, author of the best-seller A Nazi's Fiancée
“Great stories demand great narration. They are nothing without full-blooded heroes who love, yearn, fear and fight. Joanna Hempel does not allow her ancestors to fade in photograph albums. She shows them as they are tested, weaving their trials into an enormous tapestry of European history. If you want to understand the Eastern Front during the First World War — this is the only way! It is impossible to stop reading."
— Tomasz Kosiorek, journalist, psychologist,
Polish Radio
English version: Feet of Wax: Love & War on the Eastern Front 1914-1918
A shorter version of Volume 1 was published in English as Feet of Wax: Love & War on the Eastern Front 1914-1918.
