Murrysville author will host Q&A at Penn Area Library
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When Klaudyna Grudowski was searching for inspiration to write a novel about a young woman’s struggle to escape from a dystopian society, she didn’t have to look far.
Grudowski, 35, of Murrysville has been in the U.S. for only a couple of years. She grew up behind the Iron Curtain in Poland, born just a few years before the country established its first noncommunist government in more than four decades.
“I remember a lack of food. I remember living in very tough conditions,” she said. “I feel very privileged now to live in the U.S.”
During a visit to the U.S. to see her sister in Indiana, Grudowski met the man who eventually would become her husband. When he proposed in 2020, she canceled her flight home to Poland and decided to stay in the U.S. permanently.
Today, she and her husband, Chuck, share an office in Murrysville where she runs Grudowski Global Publishing and Chuck runs his law practice.
With that as her background, Grudowski began work on what would become “Force Field,” a young-adult fantasy novel that has its roots in her experiences growing up in Poland. It is the first book in a planned trilogy, telling the story of Mel, a young woman who seeks to break free from an oppressive, dystopian society.
“In the country of the book, Kle, there was a war in the past, and like when I was growing up in Poland, they are in this moment where the country is trying to rebuild itself,” Grudowski said. “They don’t yet realize that they have to fight for their freedom.”
Characters fighting for their freedom is another theme with its roots in real life: Grudowski dedicated the book to her parents, Basia and Leszek.
“Some of the characters are based on my parents,” she said. “They were escaping from communist officers in Krakow and writing freedom graffiti on the buildings.”
Grudowski said she found herself getting lost in the characters she had created.
“They sort of become you at some point,” she said. “You’re telling someone else’s story, but it feels like they actually exist. When I started writing, I knew the beginning and I knew what the last chapter would be. But, in the middle, I sort of had to ‘follow’ the characters, figure out what they want to achieve in their lives. And that was a great joy for me.”
Grudowski will host a presentation and question-and-answer session on writing and her novel at 3 p.m. March 4 at Penn Area Library in Penn Township. The library is at 2001 Municipal Court.
For more, see GrudowskiPublishing.com.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.