The Deluge: Volume 1
by Henryk Sienkiewicz
This work, which is divided into two volumes due to its length, is the continuation of Fire and Sword, a huge book that has been called one of the greatest in European literature. The "Flood" continues the epic of extensive war and revolt that threatened the Kingdom of Poland and changed the face of Eastern Europe in the 17th century. This historical novel from Poland, Sweden and Russia is an ingenious combination of history and imagination, constantly filled with action and adventure. Sienkiewicz's work is a comprehensive epic about a nation embroiled in civil war, a people fighting for survival, and events that forever changed the face of Eastern Europe. Number two of his trilogy on Polish history tells the love story of a man and a woman, tragically separated by stupidity, pride, confusion, and the Swedish invasion of Poland in the 1500s; this, in turn, divided the nation against him and extracted the best and the worst from its citizens.
