Leonora has relocated to Melbourne from London and falls in love with Margaret, a fellow teacher who three years later dies of cancer. While still grieving for Margaret, Leonora meets and befriends Anna, the Polish woman who lives next door.

Crimson Light Polished Wood illuminates with subtle ease the influence Leonora has on Anna's daughter, Lydia, introducing her to the world of literature and art.

This is a novel about the ways we all long for acceptance and how those we might feel most in touch with- including parents, siblings and mentors- can often have different values and views about us. As such it is a beautiful work about art, gender, inheritance, understanding and celebration.

'There is jealousy and deception in this strangely tender book that spans continents, generations and cultures. Pulsing with secrets, it stages the legacy of silence.'- Dominique Hecq

'Through her protagonist, Lydia, Monica Raszewski delicately uncovers the layers of a family friend's hidden past. This is a compassionate novel about aloneness, disappointment and betrayal; and it's about a heartfelt desire for intimacy, connectedness and belonging.'- Antoni Jach