Mother and Me: Escape from Warsaw 1939

Narcissists don't make ideal mothers, and Basia Padowicz Weisbrem was no exception. When her son, Yulek, turned five in 1937, she gave him a birthday card wishing him 100 years, a barrel of wine and a wench, which earned her a quiet lecture from the boy's beloved nanny, Kiki. Basia didn't even know what Yulek liked to eat or wear. But after the Nazis invade Warsaw, the Jewish Basia flees to the countryside (Yulek's father had died and her second husband was in the army) with her son, her two sisters-in-law and their children and nannies. Beautiful and manipulative, she charms the local authorities to get scarce necessities, but her self-absorption and lack of concern for consequences alienate her in-laws. Soon she finds herself on her own with Yulek, and both he and the reader learn an important lesson: in wartime, survival instincts trump all, and Basia is nothing if not a survivor. Padowicz, who now lives in Connecticut, tends to get bogged down in extraneous details, but his story is an engrossing one, part nighttime soap opera and part adventure story. His lively dialogue brings to life not only his mother, but his aunts, cousins and the many people they encounter en route to their eventual escape from war-torn Europe. (July)