My Name is Stramer
by Mikołaj Łoziński, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Pushkin Press, £18.99)
In his third novel, the Polish writer and photographer Mikołaj Łoziński explores the everyday lives of a Jewish family in the lead up to World War II. The story is set in the Polish town of Tarnów, where we meet Nathan and Rywka Stramer, along with their six offspring, as they dream of trips to the seaside and get-rich-quick schemes. While Nathan and Rywka try to hold the centre of their raucous family life, national conflicts begin to escalate and something sinister creeps into the Stramers’ world that they don’t yet understand. It is a vivid and, at times, humorous portrait of a family and society on the brink of devastating change.
By Danielle Goldstein
This article appears in the forthcoming Autumn 2025 issue of JR.
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