Agate Nesaule, who in 1995 wrote the award-winning memoir A Woman in Amber, returns to familiar territory with her first novel, released this month by the University of Wisconsin Press.

In Love with Jerzy Kosinski tells the story of Anna Dūja, a refugee from Latvia who flees first to a Displaced Persons camp and then to the United States where “she finds herself in a different kind of captivity on isolated Cloudy Lake, Wisconsin, living with her disarming but manipulative husband, Stanley,” according to a publisher’s press release.

Dūja, according to the publisher, is “inspired by the transformation of Polish-Jewish émigré Jerzy Kosinski from persecuted wartime escapee to celebrity author in America.” She “slips away from Stanley and Cloudy Lake in small steps: learning to drive, making friends, moving to Madison, falling in love, and learning to forgive.”

Nesaule, who lives in Madison, Wis., is a professor emerita of English and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. She won the American Book Award in 1996 for A Woman in Amber. The memoir told her story of flight from Latvia, the experience of life as a refugee and then her struggles in America. The memoir was later translated into Latvian under the title Sieviete dzintarā.

The hardbound version of In Love with Jerzy Kosinski has a suggested retail price of USD 24.95.

Police in South Australia have arrested and charged a 34-year-old woman from Latvia in the alleged murder of an 83-year-old Adelaide area resident.

Angelika Gavare, a resident of the Christies Downs suburb of Adelaide, appeared Feb. 26 before the Adelaide Magistrates Court, according to Australian media reports. She is charged in the murder of pensioner Vonne McGlynn, who went missing in December from her home in the nearby suburb of Reynella.

Human remains were discovered Feb. 23 in the Christies Creek Reserve in Christies Downs, a South Australia Police spokesperson said. Two days later, police found a plastic bag containing a human torso.

“Police are still awaiting positive confirmation of the identity of the remains and it is expected that DNA results may be delivered soon,” the police spokesperson said. “However, preliminary identification of the remains indicates that they are those of the missing person Vonne McGlynn.”

Details of the charges against Gavare are still emerging. Although she apparently has lived in the area for about two years, she was not known in the local Latvian community, said Valdis Tomanis, Latvia’s honorary consul in Adelaide.

McGlynn was reported missing from her home on Dec. 2. Police on Dec. 29 declared her disappearance a major crime.

Detectives in the Major Crime unit are seeking information from members of the public who may have seen a person pushing a pram in early December in or near Christies Creek Reserve or on Scottsglade Street in Christies Downs. Anyone with further information is asked to telephone BankSA Crime
Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Valdis Dombrovskis, who is a former finance minister and now serves as a member of the European Parliament, has been named to lead Latvia’s next government.

After meetings earlier this week with the various political parties represented in the Saeima, President Valdis Zatlers announced his choice in a Feb. 26 press conference.

Dombrovskis, a member of the conservative opposition party New Era (Jaunais laiks), would replace Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis, whose coalition government collapsed Feb. 20.

Zatlers told reporters he chose Dombrovskis because the candidate had the most support among political parties and because of his qualifications in finance and economics, as well as his experience working with European institutions.

The 37-year-old Dombrovskis now has to cobble together a new Cabinet of Ministers and gain the Saeima’s approval.

Dombrovskis was one of four candidates for the post. His chief rival was People’s Party (Tautas partija) member Edgars Zalāns, the current minister for regional development and local government. It was Zalāns who had prepared an ill-fated reorganization plan focused on trimming the number of ministries in the Godmanis government.

In announcing his choice of Dombrovskis, Zatlers also praised Zalāns.

“The ideal variant is that both these people would work in one government and things in the country would head in the right direction,” Zatlers said, according to a transcript of the press conference.

Dombrovskis would take over the government at a time when Latvia’s economy is in a shambles and confidence in its political institutions is at a low point. Earlier this week, the ratings service Standard & Poor’s downgraded Latvia’s creditworthiness to “junk” status and other observers of the economy warned the country is in for a long struggle.

The other candidates to form the next government were Jānis Urbanovičs, a long-time member of the Saeima whose only support came from his Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) party, and Godmanis, who had the support of his First Party of Latvia / Latvia’s Way (Latvijas Pirmā partija / Latvijās Ceļš).