Silva Rerum will change your perceptions of the Grand Duchy, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Vilnius

The first volume of the Silva Rerum tetralogy was released in 2008 and has been reissued more than 20 times, an absolute record for Lithuania. This book also became a success in Poland and Latvia.

Silva Rerum in Latin means "forest of things." This was the name given to family chronicles, which it was fashionable to compile in noble houses of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In them, from generation to generation, they recorded life dates, events, letters, memories, political news, poems, recipes, and prayers.

Why did a historical novel, for which the author chose such a title and whose events unfold in the 17th-18th centuries, become so popular?

Sabaliauskaitė's strength lies in the fact that she created a book entirely in the spirit of the 21st century: its text is deeply psychological and reflective.

For this, criticisms were even leveled at the author, alleging that people of that time could not think, speak, or have such motivations. But Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is not only a talented writer; she is also a Doctor of Art History, who researched that era in archives for many years. She masterfully weaves the peculiarities of contemporary life, clothing, and customs into the plot. As a result, the created world feels deep and authentic; you sink into it with all possible reading pleasure.

Interestingly, the text has almost no paragraphs and no dialogues at all; they are, as it were, embedded in the general narrative. Nevertheless, once you start reading, it's impossible to stop. The exquisite combination of modern language (Shupa's masterful translation) and deep knowledge of the peculiarities of life at that time creates an incomparable impression.

The events of the tetralogy span approximately 100 years — from the end of the 17th century, almost immediately after the "Bloody Deluge," and until the end of the existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the end of the 18th century.

Against the backdrop of historical events, the fate of the noble Narwoysz family unfolds, who originate from Samogitia.

The book is often called a grand Vilnius saga, but the events take place throughout the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: in the first book primarily in Vilnius, in the second — in Vilnius and Samogitia, and in the third, for example, almost all the action takes place on the territory of Belarus: in Nesvizh, Slutsk, Charnauchitsy, Smarhon. And even Minsk appears episodically on its pages.

And here's another feature of Sabaliauskaitė's tetralogy: Silva Rerum is a historical novel of a type that transcends patriotic boundaries. The author does not propagandize. She looks at the characters from different angles and sees everyone: the Polish-speaking nobility, the Samogitian peasants, the Belarusian peasants, and the urban Jewish population.

Павялічыць

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė. Photo Wikimedia Commons

Moreover, Sabaliauskaitė is excellent at seeing through the eyes of different people.

We see Lithuanians through the eyes of Russians and Swedes, we see Vilnius gentiles through the eyes of Vilnius Jews, and Samogitian peasants through the eyes of a noblewoman from Grodno.

"…he knows of no tribe more cruel to its children than the gentiles, for how many neglected newborns were left in hospitals in Vilnius, how many orphans wandered the streets, ragged and dirty, dying of hunger or mercilessly exploited by artisans; no decent person could imagine such a thing, let alone that no Jew who respects himself would ever give his infant to strangers…" — ponders the Vilnius physician Aaron Gordon.

"…but generally, those Lithuanians deserved it; they are a weak, scattered, finished people, their days of glory are over, and now dawns a new century, a new age, and this age will be ours, this age will be an age of Russian victories — so thought Colonel Aksenti Petrovich Fomin."

"…and this land, though fertile, was worth little: villages were neglected, impoverished; people were untidy, ugly, wild, some not much better than animals; their lords were quarrelsome, arrogant fools who placed obtuse pride above the country's interests… And their army, as far as Thure Tÿbelius Magnusson had seen it, was ridiculous, for each lord himself summoned soldiers, and even if they did join a regiment, those regiments did not understand each other and quarreled…" — thoughts of a Swedish army officer.

"The forests here were completely different from those near Vilnius, completely unlike those in Podlachia around Biała; here they were dark, primal, like overgrown matted hair in the armpits of the world, with unexplored human territories, they stared with lynx-like eyes from depths that plunged into twilight even at noon; everything in this land was different, even people's faces seemed different" — observations of the noble Anna Katarzyna Narwoyszowa of Katowice.

Among the feedback from Lithuanian readers, one can find comments that Sabaliauskaitė does not portray Lithuanians complacently enough in the book. But it is extremely interesting to observe how the author shifts perspectives and reveals events and people from different sides. She has no "favorites," she spares no one, but behind all this, an informed fairness is palpable.

"…there is nothing more ruinous for yesterday's dark pagan than the Roman Catholic faith, for in this gloomy land still lives some primitive, dull, and stubborn evil, a force of darkness that has deeply permeated everywhere and is absorbed with mother's milk, and only people strong in spirit can resist it, but that force unexpectedly invades people's souls, and they begin to do evil, and having done so, they go to confession to the priest and instantly receive forgiveness for their sins, as if nothing had happened, without any pangs of conscience, for they know that the good Lord will still forgive them… And Prince Janusz Radziwiłł, an extraordinarily farsighted man, then told Narwoysz that only Calvin's faith could help the Samogitians, who asserts that all sinners are corrupted and condemned from birth and only the grace of the Almighty Lord can save them, and that no repentance or confessions at the end of life will help…"

Silva Rerum is a true encyclopedia of life at that time in our common Grand Duchy. Here, for example, is a fragment about coffee. Sabaliauskaitė merely tells about the habits of an eccentric heroine. But at the same time — about the coffee culture at the beginning of the 18th century:

"…all that remained to her was Turkish coffee, sold in pharmacies as a remedy for indigestion, and there was no shortage of this good after the victory over the Turks at Vienna; however, she acted cautiously, buying a good supply, because now, due to the Swedish war, nothing could be obtained again, and a sip of that bitterness in a tiny gilded cup right after noon was the only pleasure of her day, and her weakened eyes opened wider."

Silva Rerum has many faces: it is a historical, a family, and a romance novel. As Sergei Shupa emphasizes, it will be equally understandable and close specifically to Belarusians and Lithuanians. Because it is about us, about our shared history. This book is about Vilnius, which has repeatedly risen from the ashes. Through which everyone has passed — from Cossacks and Swedes to the plague.

Vilnius in the book is alive, contradictory, small and grand at the same time. Tempting and terrifying, beautiful and horrifying. Just like her characters, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė does not spare Vilnius. But she also sings an ode to it: in every Vilnius fragment, love, respect, and admiration for this city that survived are felt.

"…this ruined and devastated city, which those who did not love it simply called a large village, was in its own way a powerful piece of the world — for with hellish stubbornness it resurrected and again reached upwards, and again bells were hung in churches and golden votive offerings brought, again women dressed beautifully, again the shelves of the library plundered and burned by the Muscovites slowly filled with books, and again the Chair of Civil Law operated."

All four books of the tetralogy have already been released in Belarusian: the first two parts were released in the autumn of 2025, and the 3rd and 4th — in mid-January 2026.

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė. Silva Rerum. — Prague: Vesna, 2025—2026

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