The story of
In America is inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California; and Modrzejewska's subsequent triumphant career on the American stage under the name Helena Modjeska. 'A tour de force...A magical accomplishment by an alchemist of ideas and words, images and truth.' - Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun '[
In America] has an invigorating spaciousness...packed with characters, incidents, and colour, and combining mass appeal with high intelligence.' - Walter Kirn, New York magazine
In America