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