Zofia Nowack

Zofia Nowack is Shay Maloney’s biological grandmother, a figure whose history comes into view through the story of the care she and Artur Nowack gave Shay and the family he lost. After Francesca King died, the couple cared for Shay and fought to keep him; social services nevertheless removed him and placed him in foster care. The late disclosure makes Zofia’s life part of Shay’s reckoning with ancestry, separation, and the limits of what he knows about his beginnings.

Family and separation

Zofia and Artur cared for Shay after Francesca’s death and wanted to raise him. Ollie Pietruska explains that they fought for him, but social services would not let them keep him. He suggests, without claiming certainty, that the decision may have had something to do with Rudek Nowack. Shay was taken from his grandparents and entered foster care; as far as Ollie can tell, he never saw them again. The separation is not presented as evidence that Zofia did not want him: when Shay asks whether his grandparents wanted him, Ollie makes clear that they did, very much.

A life in London

Zofia and Artur came to London in the 1960s and took over a café in Vauxhall, which they ran together for years. As Zofia grew too frail to continue, she moved into a care home in Pimlico. Artur then ran the café with help from his grandson, Shay’s cousin. The couple sold the business shortly before Zofia died, a few years before Ollie recounts her history to Shay. After her death, Artur took her home to Warsaw.

Burial and belated recognition

Zofia and Artur are buried near Warsaw, a mile from Ollie’s family home. When Ollie tells Shay who his grandparents were and what happened to them, Shay clings to him and asks where they are buried. Ollie draws him from the willow planted in their honour to a nearby bench; they sit with their knees pressed together and their hands clasped while Shay asks him to finish the story. The account gives Shay concrete knowledge of the grandparents from whom he was separated, and, just as importantly, confirms that they wanted him.

Place in Shay’s sense of family

Zofia’s story enters a family history that Shay has spent a long time trying to understand. He remains a Maloney, the family name and identity formed by those who raised him, and has chosen, for now, not to seek surviving members of his biological family. The novel therefore does not make Zofia’s biological tie a replacement for Shay’s established attachments. Her place in his history adds a lost relationship and the knowledge of his grandparents’ care, while leaving his chosen identity intact.