The View from 16 Podwale Street
()
About this ebook
Wealthy recluse Elwira Malinowska is more an observer than participant in life. In her seclusion at 16 Podwale, she watches the world pass her by. Then Raz Zielinsky comes to work as a housemaid for her father, and Elwira’s life is suddenly divisible by two -- the time before Raz and the time after.
Years pass, and the women become lovers. They depend on each other. Elwira is Raz’s protector, and Raz is Elwira’s conduit to the outside world, where people speak of nothing but the continual threat of war with Germany.
Elwira, a steadfast Catholic, believes Pope Pius XII will intervene to save Poland from the rumblings of a maniac and an imminent invasion. But when the Pope fails to mediate peace and the political situation worsens, Elwira and Raz plan their escape to freedom.
Paul Alan Fahey
Paul Alan Fahey, author of the writer’s resource, The Short and Long of It, and the Lovers and Liars gay wartime romance series, is also edited the 2013 Rainbow Award-winning nonfiction anthology, The Other Man: 21 Writers Speak Candidly About Sex, Love, Infidelity, & Moving On. For more information, visit paulalanfahey.com.
Read more from Paul Alan Fahey
Words Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The View from 16 Podwale Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Short and Long of It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Other Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll I Want for Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoys Will Be Boys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMistaken Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToo Long Among the Dead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Mother Should Know Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting Gertie Out Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor a Good Man's Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the Right One Comes Along Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The View from 16 Podwale Street
Related ebooks
Ozan the Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHer Impetuous Rakehell: The Bridgethorpe Brides, #4 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Discord's Apprentice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeceiving an Earl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurned: Elementals, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedeeming the Roguish Rake: A Regency Historical Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaught by Darcy: Sinful Secrets, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buckle and Squash and the Monstrous Moat-Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Retribution: The Seer Series, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weep Not for the Past Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMother Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSing a Song of Sixpence: A Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever a Never After Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amazing Interlude Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNatalie Tereshchenko - Lady In Waiting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA House in Bloomsbury: 'What happiness is there which is not purchased with more or less of pain?'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chosen Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Secrets of Arach Innis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lady’s Masquerade (A Regency Romance Book) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thinking Reed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rancher Takes a Bride: The Burnett Brides, #1 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Hard-Hearted Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSand Island Diaries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack & Red Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDancing Lessons: A short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRory's Prince Charming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadow Hand (Tales of Goldstone Wood Book #6) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warlord's Demise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Lesbian Fiction For You
Lesbian Sex at the Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chemistry Lessons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Doctors Orders: Lesbian Doctor Erotica Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emmanuelle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shut Up You're Pretty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Sapphic Affair Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Worth the Wait Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whole Lesbian Sex Stories: Erotica for Women Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Love and Pleasure: A Steamy Lesbian Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5RE: Trailer Trash Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When She Was Good: Best Lesbian Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I am a Woman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Client Part 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Do Lesbians Do In Bed? 21 Sapphic Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLesbian Gangbang Sex: Ambers First Time Lesbian Sex Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nights of Silk and Sapphire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Butter Honey Pig Bread Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Her Name in the Sky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exalted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Luminous Dead: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orphan #8: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trondheim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Empress of Salt and Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City of Laughter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Are Water: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Wall: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Were Witches: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The View from 16 Podwale Street
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The View from 16 Podwale Street - Paul Alan Fahey
The View from 16 Podwale Street
By Paul Alan Fahey
Published by JMS Books LLC
Visit jms-books.com for more information.
Copyright 2012 Paul Alan Fahey
ISBN 9781611523263
Cover Photo Credit: Fabrizio Mariani, Rangpl
Used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.
Cover Design: Written Ink Designs
All Rights Reserved
WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.
This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States of America.
* * * *
The View From 16 Podwale Street
By Paul Alan Fahey
Elwira Malinowska stood at the window of her home, 16 Podwale Street, and watched the sun’s rays travel up the façade of the white house across from hers, making the geraniums burn in their window boxes. A horse and cart, laden with fresh produce, slowly clattered below on the cobblestones. She put up a hand to shield her eyes from the glare, and then turned away. How many times had the doctors warned her about exposure to sunlight? Elwira reached up and pulled the drape until it covered the window.
It was 1939, a spring morning in April, and the city was Warsaw. It was peaceful and quiet, five months before the soldiers would invade, then occupy the city. But that assault would not be peaceful or quiet. It would be sudden, full of fire and light and death. A Blitzkrieg, they would call it.
Elwira went back to bed, switched on the lamp, and waited for Raz. She put on her dark glasses with the thick lenses and held the face of the small clock up to her eyes. Six forty-five. Soon she would be with Raz, the woman she loved, and for now, nothing else mattered.
Before Raz came into her life, Elwira felt more of an observer than a participant in life, as if she were cast in a play and present on stage but given no lines. She thought of her childhood, of the endless dinner parties her parents gave for friends and relatives, and how she’d escaped the tedium in her father’s study. Elwira would spend hours there, sitting in the dark by the window, watching people pass below on Podwale, never wishing for or wanting companionship. But then Raz came to work for her father, and Elwira’s life suddenly became divisible by two: the time before Raz and the time after.
A light tapping, and Raz breezed in with their breakfast tray balanced on her hip. She wore her brown hair shorter now. She told Elwira it made her look younger than her thirty-five years, but Elwira thought the haircut was the result of a silly comment she’d made over a strand of gray she’d discovered while brushing her friend’s hair.
Raz put down the tray on the bureau and began smoothing her apron over the plain black skirt. She adjusted her white cap in the mirror. The tea’s not as strong as you like, Wira.
Never mind.
Elwira patted a spot beside her on the bed. Come sit with me.
The armies are coming,
Raz said. The Gazeta’s headlines—
Nonsense. They will not come.
Elwira, like many Catholics, believed the Pope would intercede on behalf of Poland and stop the German aggression. With Britain and France pledging support, what could possibly go wrong?
You look the part today,
Elwira said. Right out of an Agatha Christie.
Isn’t that the idea?
Raz made a half curtsy. Just a glorified servant in your lovely home, madam.
She waved her hand, taking in the expensive paintings, the crystal sconces and chandelier, and family czaczkas.
You can be cruel,
Elwira said. Come over here.
Raz took her hand and sat on the edge of the bed.
The clock in the hall struck the hour. There was plenty of time. There was always plenty of time for each other.
We need not play this game when we are alone, Raz.
Raz made a move to rise, but Elwira drew her back and kissed her on the lips. "Nothing is planned for