They see her as evil. Cursed, so the znakharka says. Diseased. Her strange language plots against them. She is Mary Nikodemski, the know-all English woman.
Mary's Poland follows the life of Irish-born Mary, never the English now, brought by her husband, Nikoda, to his peasant farm near Lida on the western plains of the Russian Empire.
Lonely, with Nikoda away at sea for most of the year and up to all sorts of carry on, Mary finds comfort in a few Jewish friendships, warmth in Nikoda's parents, caution in Nikoda's brother Jozef, and her greatest joy in her first child.
As Mary tries to make peace with her new life, the turn of the century reflects her inner conflict with the 'Polish' uprising, the great fire of Lida, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Russian Revolution.
Mary's Poland is preceded by Mary's Ireland in the epic series that culminates in Mary's War.