Two Caravans
Marina Lewycka
Fig Tree
A beautiful summer's evening in a Kent field and around their two caravans a group of strawberry pickers celebrates a birthday. But what lies behind the buy-one-get-one-free offers at your supermarket and who picks our strawberries? The Ukrainians: Irina, just off the coach from Kiev, and Andriy, the miner's son from the other Ukraine; the Poles: Tomasz and Yola; two Chinese girls; Emanuel, the round-eyed eighteen-year-old from Malawi. And although he can't pick strawberries, there's also the Dog... Hilarious, gritty, moving and slapstick, Two Caravans has every bit of the extraordinary distinctiveness, wit and heart that made A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian so successful.