In 1968 the remaining Polish Jews who had survived WWII were expelled from their homeland along with their children born after the war. A small contingent of these "remnants" ended up in Northern California and eventually found each other. Periodically, they would gather with their mostly American spouses for private home parties -
prywatki
- a dying Polish tradition they still observed in a new country in a new century.
THE INVITATION, originally a short story, slowly evolved into full-length tour de force of screwball comedy, philosophical speculations, unearthed painful memories, marital hijinks, and big personalities on parade, all delivered with panache in "English with a Polish accent."
It tells the story of Nina, who is excited when an oversized lavender-scented envelope arrives, and Martin, her Irish-born husband of twenty years. The couple is at a crossroads. Their intimacy counselor, Dr. Butterfly, is trying, but will she succeed?
The envelope proves to be a Pandora's box. They are going to a
prywatka,
where secrets are revealed and relationships are tested and strained to the breaking point. All the while, Nina the provocateur is making mental notes to enter into her Moleskine notebook, material for her tell-all novel no one believes she will ever write.