A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

The Booker longlisted first book from Britain's funniest bestselling novelist, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time'Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamourous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.'Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their emigre engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth.But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget...

Winner of Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. Winner of The British Book Award. Winner of Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.

“Extremely funny”

It's rare to find a first novel that gets so much right . . . Lewycka is a seriously talented comic writer

Time Out
More than just a jolly romp with political undertones is the way it captures the peculiar flavour of Eastern European immigrant life . . . a very rich mixture indeed, as well as very enjoyable reading Daily Express
Funny, gritty, original ... one I adore Independent
Remarkable, a lovely novel Sunday Telegraph
An extraordinary read . . . nothing short of amazing. A rare treat, all too easy to gulp down in one greedy sitting Spectator
Outstanding Literary Review
The Times
Intelligent, lively, well written and compassionate Financial Times
Ploughs a rich comic furrow Daily Telegraph
A clever, touching story Economist

Marina Lewycka was born in Kiel, Germany at the end of the war and grew up in England. Her novels Two Caravans and We Are All Made of Glue are available in Penguin now.

'Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorce. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six . . .' Voluptuous gold-digger Valentina loves green satin underwear, boil-in-the-bag cooking and, she insists, the migr father of sisters Vera and Nadezhda. Putting aside a lifetime's feuding, the sisters will do anything to protect their father. Unfortunately for them, he doesn't want to be saved. Worse, the sisters' battle to keep their father from Valentina's clutches unearths troubling family secrets that reach back fifty years into Europe's dark history . . . 'Delightful, funny, touching' Spectator

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.