An intimate history of Poland told through the personal experience of restoring a house in a village plagued by invasion and disaster. In 1989 Radek Sikorski returned home to Poland, having spent 8 years in exile in Britain. After enduring half a century under totalitarian regimes Poland was beginning an era of freedom. Sikorski decided to go back to his homeland to restore a manor house in the country and to pick up the threads of his life in Poland before he was exiled. Through his experience, delving into the history of the Manor house and the families connected with it, Sikorski has written an intimate history of Poland.