Time Is a Pilgrim (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798992707717)

In 1830 Poland, Regina's daughter gives birth in a halny, the fierce wind that sweeps down the Tatra Mountains, to a baby with a facial deformity. As she prays for the miraculous healing of the infant, her time-traveling ancestor, Kasia, and Jadwiga, the medieval queen, arrive to help. Kasia tells her about plastic surgery in 2020, Philadelphia, but a midnight attempt at kidnapping her own grandchild and taking her to Future America shakes Regina back to her senses.

Instead, she and Kasia time-travel alone to 2020 Philadelphia to bring the surgeon back with them. The three narrowly escape COVID, but the baby's parents won't let him touch her.

Back in 1830, she shares her dilemma with her friends in Yankel's Tavern, where they hear talk of the annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Black Madonna. What if she does the long walk to Czestochowa and petitions for a miracle?

Regina, her friends Barbara and Genka, Kasia, Jadwiga, and the surgeon eagerly join her on the grueling pilgrimage, but an accident forces her into the hands of a band of gypsies. She must confront her prejudice against them if she is to complete her journey. As she and her friends travel with the caravan, they meet Philomena, the gypsy queen, who teaches them about a culture that also honors a strong mystical woman, called Sara.

Passing through lovely meadows and verdant forests, on rocky paths and sandy trails, Regina arrives with hundreds of other pilgrims at Jasna Gora, where she glimpses a window into a truth that has always been right in front of her eyes.