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Shelf life: Looking at secular books

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.

Secular Shelf Life Sarah Allen

A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN
By Marina Lewycka
Penguin. 326 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0 141 02052 0