The Road Home - Rose Tremain

Lev is mourning his wife Marina, dead of leukaemia at the age of 36. After losing his job in the Baryn sawmill, which closed after all the trees had been used up, he sinks into depression while his elderly mother supports him and his 5 year old daughter Maya by making tin jewellery. The money is not enough though and Lev decides to go to Britain, to the lucky land of lucky people who didn't experience the damaging effects of too much history happening in their lifetime. "The Road Home" is a chronicle of Lev's stay in the UK, starting with his 50 hour journey on the coach. We never learn which specific country he comes from (although it's a New-EU ...  Read the complete review

When he is made redundant from his town's saw mill, widower Lev leaves behind his young daughter with her grandmother and makes the long coach trip from Eastern Europe to London, hoping to find a job that will enable him to earn enough money to send home to make a better life for Maya. With the help of Lydia, a fellow passenger, he slowly starts to find his feet in London, renting a room from Christy, an Irishman with his own personal problems, and landing a job - though menial - in one of the city's most prestigious new restaurants. Things start going well for Lev until suddenly he is reminded just how different life is from the one he left ...  Read the complete review

This book was a surprise as I really didn't enjoy reading one of Rose Tremain's other books, 'The Colour'. So it was with trepidation that I started this novel. It was good to see it bang up to date and quite topical in its subject matter. The novel centres around Lev, who has left his eastern European country to come to London in search of work. He finds it very difficult to get established due to language barriers and a sheer lack of knowledge about how to organise accommodation and work. The downside of this novel for me was how badly he was accepted by most people. This wouldn't have surprised me for some places in the UK but not in London where surely ...  Read the complete review

I was totally blown away by this book, it was amazing. It follows a character called Lev, who has lost his wife to illness and is left with his young daughter and her grandmother. They are struggling to make ends meet after Lev loses his job, so he comes across to London to make money to send back home for his daughter. Its a totally modern and harsh account of the struggles that Lev faces in this country, the way that it is different to his own country and is suprised how difficult it is to get along. He has to work long hours to earn money but once he has taken out his high living expenses he is disappointed to find he does not have much left for his daughter. So he ...  Read the complete review