Marina Lewycka is een Britse auteur wiens werken zich vaak verdiepen in de complexiteit van familierelaties en culturele botsingen. Haar schrijven wordt gekenmerkt door scherpe observaties van de menselijke natuur, waarbij ze vaak humor verweeft met een diep begrip van menselijk lijden. Lewycka verkent thema's als identiteit, migratie en de zoektocht naar verbondenheid, terwijl haar personages navigeren tussen verschillende werelden en tradities. Haar doel is om de veerkracht van de menselijke geest en de complexe banden die ons allemaal verbinden te vieren.
In a Kent field, and around their caravans, a group of strawberry pickers celebrate a birthday. But what lies behind the buy-one-get-one-free offers at the supermarket and who picks the strawberries? The Ukrainians, the Poles, the Chinese? And although he can't pick strawberries, there's also the dog
Georgie Sinclair's life is coming unstuck. Her husband's left her. Her son's obsessed with the End of the World. And now her elderly neighbour Mrs Shapiro has decided they are related. Or so the hospital informs her when Mrs Shapiro has an accident and names Georgie next of kin. This, however, is not a case of a quick ward visit- Mrs Shapiro has a large rickety house full of stinky cats that needs looking after that a pair of estate agents seem intent on swindling from her. Plus there are the 'Uselesses' trying to repair it (uselessly). Then there's the social worker who wants to put her in a nursing home. Not to mention some letters that point to a mysterious, painful past. As Georgie tries her best to put Mrs Shapiro's life back together somehow she must stop her own from falling apart . . .
A beautiful summer ́s evening in a Kent field and around their two caravans a group of strawberry pickers celebrates a birthday. An idyllic scence. But this is a group leading dangerous lives - exploitative employers, British regulations and gang masters with guns will all threaten them as they take to the caravan road to find their destinies.
Marcus and Doro were part of a commune from the late 1960s until the early 1990s: lentils, free love, spliffs, radical politics, cheesecloth blouses, sex, housework and cooking rotas, crochet, allotments. Their children have grown up differently from them: primary school teacher Clara craves order and clean bathrooms ; son Serge is pretending he is still doing a doctorate at Cambridge ; while third child Oolie Anna, who has Downs Syndrome, is desperate to escape home and live on her own. Once the truth starts breaking through, who knows what further secrets will be revealed about any of them? Risible tale of modern values, featuring hamsters, cockroaches, poodles, a chicken and multiplying rabbits.
Putting aside a lifetime of rivalry when they learn that their recently widowed father is planning to remarry, sisters Vera and Nadezhda find themselves outmaneuvered by their father's scheming fiancée.
Lively ...a joy to read' - The Times Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize From the bestselling author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian North London in the twenty-first century: a place where a son will swiftly adopt an old lady and take her home from hospital to impersonate his dear departed mother, rather than lose the council flat. A time of golden job opportunities, though you might have to dress up as a coffee bean or work as an intern at an undertaker or put up with champagne and posh French dinners while your boss hits on you. A place rich in language - whether it's Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese. A place where husbands go absent without leave and councillors sacrifice cherry orchards at the altar of new builds. Marina Lewycka is back in this hilarious, farcical, tender novel of modern issues and manners.
Hopeless failed actor Berthold is exactly the same age as George Clooney (they share a birthday), but still lives with his mum. When he realises at her deathbed that he may lose his mother's lovely council flat, built in the 1960s by celebrated architect Lubetkin, he niftily adopts the old lady in the hospital bed next door and takes her home to impersonate his mum. That's when all the trouble begins!
After walking out on his wife to shack up with 'Brexit Brenda' next door, George Pantis thinks he's got it made - especially when he wins millions on a Kosovan lottery he barely remembers entering. Unfortunately, he can't access the money because he's forgotten his password. What is he meant to tell all the forceful people who keep appearing at his doorstep desperate to know his mother's maiden name? The situation is shadier than he thinks, and George is need of rescue. But will his dysfunctional family be able to save him, and in the process, can they save each other?
Deux caravanes abritent des cueilleurs immigrants dans un champ de fraises. Leur existence bascule quand un gangster russe kidnappe Irina, poussant Andriy à entreprendre un long voyage pour la sauver.