Saramonowicz graduated in Polish Studies and History from Warsaw University, and worked as a teacher and as editor of 'Gazeta Wyborcza'. She debuted with Akropoliada (1989), co-authored with husband Andrzej Saramonowicz. Her first autonomous novel, Siostra / The Sister (1996), was a psychological thriller about a woman who falls into a coma after she learns about her pregnancy.
"If Edgar Allan Poe had had a daughter, and if that daughter had had a daughter, and that daughter in her turn had had a daughter, it would have been easy to understand where Małgorzata Saramonowicz has come from." ('Gazeta Wyborcza')
"Małgorzata Saramonowicz has succeeded in something unusual - she has written a shocking novel on how fear can take possession of a human being." ('Kurier Poranny')
Her second novel, Lustra / Mirrors (1999) talks about old age. One elderly lady kills her young caretaker out of fear of death. Mirrors from the title are to blame: they impassively inform about new wrinkles and grey hairs. One review called both of Saramonowicz's first books 'a precarious attempt to see into the dark depths of the female psyche'.
Siostra came out in Dutch, German and Lithuanian translations.
Sanatorium, published in 2005, takes us on a journey in time. The main protagonist, Jan, goes to a mountain resort, where he meets someone from his traumatic past. This novel is also filled with darkness, cruelty, love and suffering. As Jan Gondowicz wrote:
"Saramonowicz's prose impresses us through its logical construction, which is not far from the logic of cruelty. She knows neither simple consolation nor any hope for salvation and eternal life. The vacuum that this leaves is filled with the ghastly smiles of matter. The only form of protest open to us is to dare to throw a glance into this abyss." (Jan Gondowicz)
And the author herself explains:
"Every thinking, conscious person must be able to take note of the good and simple things that surround them and are the source of each day, but also those things which arouse dread and fear. It has so turned out that I put the latter into words." (Małgorzata Saramonowicz)
In 2016 her book Xięgi Nefasa - Trygław. Władca Losu / Nefas's Books - Trygław. Lord of Fate was published - the first part of a fantasy trilogy, set in the times of Polish king Bolesław Krzywołusty. The story of courtly intrigues, crimes and political betrayals reminds the readers of the famous Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.
Saramonowicz also co-authored the script of the TV series Tango z aniołem / Tango with the Angel (2005), the cinema hit Lejdis directed by Tomasz Konecki (2008), and executive producer of Jak się pozbyć cellulitu / How to get rid of Cellulite directed by Andrzej Saramonowicz.
Source: www.polska2000.pl, Copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza, updated by NMR, September 2016.
Bibliography:
- Siostra / Sister, Warszawa: W.A.B., 1996, (wznow. tamże, 1999);
- Lustra / Mirrors, Warszawa: W.A.B., 1999;
- Sanatorium / Sanatorium, Warszawa: W.A.B., 2005.
- Xięgi Nefasa - Trygław. Władca Losu / Nefas's Books - Trygław. Lord of Fate, Kraków: Znak, 2016.