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North London in the 21st century: a place where a son will 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. A place rich in language - whether it´s Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese.

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´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.

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Lively . . . a joy to read The Times

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Lewycka, Marina
Marina Lewycka was born in Kiel, Germany, after the Second World War, and moved to England with her family when she was about a year old. Her first novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, has sold more than a million copies in the UK alone and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker and won the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waverton Good Read Award. Her second novel, Two Caravans, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Two Caravans and Marina´s third and fourth novels, We Are All Made of Glue, Various Pets Alive and Dead and The Lubetkin Legacy are all available in Penguin. Marina Lewycka lives in Sheffield.

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