A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN
By Marina Lewycka
Penguin. 326 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0 141 02052 0
Imagine your widowed 84-year-old father takes up with a blonde Ukrainian in her 30s. She wants a visa and he wants female company. How do you react? Horror? Indignation? Compassion? This wackily titled novel takes this scenario and develops it with humour and insight.
Nikolai fled the Ukraine after the Second World War with his wife and two daughters. He has worked hard to integrate into Leicestershire and to achieve security by hoarding and scrimping. The younger daughter, Nadia, narrates the story, recording her feelings about her father’s relationship with Valentina, a recently-arrived Ukrainian with a penchant for consumer goods and short skirts.
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