Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka

Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka I spotted the novel Two Caravans, being heavily advertised in our local Waterstone's bookshop, due to the fact that it was based on immigrant workers in Kent (where I live). I read the back blurb, and, realising that this would be no 'Darling Buds of May' type Kentish story, but a more realistic exploration of life in this county in the new millennium, decided to buy it. However, I bought it from Sussex Stationers (part of British Stationers) up the road as it was half price at £3.99 as opposed to Waterstone's price of £7.99. I had heard of Marina Lewycka before, as her first novel was strangely entitled 'a ...  Read the complete review

With the subject of immigration dominating the news at the moment, Marina Lewycka’s “Two Caravans” could hardly be more topical. The book tells the story of a group of immigrants who, at the beginning of the novel, find themselves crammed into two tiny caravans at a strawberry farm in Kent. The story is told through a succession of first person narratives from the main characters and also “Dog”, a stray dog who attaches himself to the motley band of itinerant workers. I had high hopes for “Two Caravans” having read and enjoyed the author’s debut novel “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”. I was also interested in how the sensitive subject of immigration ...  Read the complete review

~~~The Setting~~~ This book was recommended to me when down the pub with three girl (see how young we are!!) friends. Two of the three had read Marina Lewycka’s very popular, critically acclaimed and award winning debut novel ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian’ and had thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the three had started to read ‘Two Caravans’ and the rest of us decided that this would be a good first book for a ‘book club’ (between you and me, this is a means for us to legitimise a regular girl’s evening down the pub). ‘Tractors’ (if I may use this as short hand) has ‘its extraordinary distinctiveness, wit and heart’ to thank for its success. I ...  Read the complete review

Marina Lewycka's second novel "Two Caravans" is a classic romantic comedy, which means the plot can be summed up as: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. In this instance, there's a slight nod to a twist on "Pride & Prejudice" with the boy Andrei being from a rural, lower-class family and the girl Elena being from the urban middle-class. That these characters are all migrant workers (one from Africa, two from China and the rest from non-EU Eastern Europe, with our heroes coming from the Ukraine), who have come to England to pick strawberries, is Lewycka's own distinctive spin. With this slightly unique set up, and having ...  Read the complete review

I received the book "Two Caravans" by Marina Lewycka as a book swap from the site readitswapit.co.uk. I had seen the book on their top 50 book lists and although not really knowing a lot about the story was keen to read it and find out more. The author has also written "A short history of tractors in Ukrainian" which was very popular and shortlisted for the Orange prize. The story is fictional and the two caravans in the title of the book refer to two caravans of strawberry pickers working in the south of England. One caravan is the female workers and the other caravan is the male workers. They are immigrant workers who have come from ...  Read the complete review