A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

This is Barbara from the (Ottawa Public Library), and this week I'm reviewing a book called A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, a very funny novel by Marina Lewycka. The title doesn't really reflect what the book is about. Although one of the main characters in the book, an old man, is trying to write a history of tractors, the book is really about a Ukrainian family in modern-day England living out the immigrant experience. It is the story of how two sisters who haven't spoken to each other since their mother's death rally around their demented widowed father who announces he is going to marry a glamorous Polish divorcee fifty years younger than he. It is part tragety, part comedy, and one cannot help but get caught up in this outrageous family story as the daughters try to save their stubborn father from the selfish, cunning and cruel Valentina, who sees their father as a meal ticket and a way to get her citizenship. This book, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian would make an excellent movie, although the title have to be changed.