A vibrant, engaging debut novel that follows the friendship of three women from their youthful days in Poland to their complicated, not-quite-successful adult lives   Because of her father’s role in the Solidarity movement, Anna and her parents immigrate to the United States in the 1980s as political refugees from Poland. They settle in Brooklyn among immigrants of every stripe, yet Anna never quite feels that she belongs. But then, the summer she turns twelve, she is sent back to Poland to visit her grandmother, and suddenly she experiences the shock of recognition. In her family’s hometown of Kielce, Anna develops intense friendships with two local girls—brash and beautiful Justyna and desperately awkward Kamila—and their bond is renewed every summer when Anna returns. The Lullaby of Polish Girls follows these three best friends from their early teenage years on the lookout for boys in Kielce—a town so rough its citizens are called “the switchblades”—to the loss of innocence that wrecks them, and the stunning murder that reaches across oceans to bring them back together after they’ve grown and long since left home.   Dagmara Dominczyk’s assured narrative flashes from the wild summers of the girls’ youth to their years of self-discovery in New York and Europe. Her writing is full of grit and guts, and her descriptions of the emotional experiences of her characters resonate with honesty. The Lullaby of Polish Girls captures the passion and drama of friendship, the immigrant’s yearning to be known, and the exquisite and wistful transformation of young women coming of age.   Praise for The Lullaby of Polish Girls “A coming-of-age tale of three young Polish women [that is] brimming with teary epiphanies, betrayal and love, as well as the grit of both New York and Kielce. [It’s] Girls with a Polish accent.” —The New York Times “ The Lullaby of Polish Girls will make you swoon. Dagmara Dominczyk has written a glorious debut novel inspired by her own emigration from Poland to Brooklyn with depth, intensity, humor, and grace.” —Adriana Trigiani “An ennui-stricken actress returns to the old country—and to the friends of her youth—in Dagmara Dominczyk’s The Lullaby of Polish Girls, in which solidarity is all about summer evenings under the stars with a vodka bottle and a radio playing ‘Forever Young.’ ” — Vogue   “Compelling . . . an original portrait of friendship and identity . . . Dominczyk uses a fresh, confident style.” — People   “In this arresting debut novel, Polish American film and TV actress Dominczyk pays homage to her native city of Kielce while capturing the joys, insecurities, and struggles of three girlfriends coming of age. Spanning thirteen years, Dominczyk’s absorbing story is a triptych of tsknota (Polish for a kind of yearning) and a profound desire for acceptance, freedom, and home.” — Booklist (starred review)   “ The Lullaby of Polish Girls is sexy and sensitive, with a raw, openhearted center. Dominczyk’s love for her complicated characters is apparent from the first page to the last, and by the novel’s end the reader cares for them just as deeply.” —Emma Straub “Fresh and revelatory.” — Publishers Weekly   “The cast of characters is equally broad in scope, yet each one is richly imagined. . . . This debut is not to be missed.” — Library Journal *Starred Review* In this arresting debut novel, Polish American film and TV actress Dominczyk (Higher Ground, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Good Wife, Third Watch) pays homage to her native city of Kielce while capturing the joys, insecurities, and struggles of three girlfriends coming-of-age. Spanning 13 years, Dominczyk’s absorbing story is a triptych of tesknota (Polish for a kind of yearning) and a profound desire for acceptance, freedom, and home. Anna, an actress and daughter of a Polish refugee, lives with her hipster fiancé, Ben, in a cramped railroad apartment in Brooklyn. Anna and Ben are now “just an argument waiting to happen.” Her failing relationship, coupled with the recent news of her childhood friend’s husband’s murder and an untimely tough-love meeting with her agent, spurs the mercurial Anna to purchase a one-way ticket and escape to her babcia’s home in Polska. Meanwhile, her girlfriend Kamila’s been dealt a series of bad hands. Living with her oafish parents in a Polish enclave in Wyandotte, Michigan, and working as nanny to two bratty children, Kamila is reeling from the discovery that her husband is a closeted homosexual. Of Dominczyk’s three young protagonists, Justyna is the most absorbing and provocative. During her teenage years, Justyna is hard-core, drinking, cussing and “howling songs into the heavens” like a Spice Girl, with her hips working overtime and every gesture oozing sexuality. Justyna looks boldly ahead, bidding farewell to the past and eagerly toasting the New Year “with a wan smile and a wink.” --Miriam Tuliao “A coming-of-age tale of three young Polish wom