A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian cover art

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

By: Marina Lewycka
Narrated by: Siân Thomas
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About this listen

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was 84 and she was 36. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.

Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their émigré engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth. But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers 50 years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget....

©2005 Marina Lewycka (P)2014 Audible, Inc Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Romance Comedy

Critic Reviews

"A charming comedy of eros... A ride that, despite the bumps and curves in the road, never feels anything less than jaunty." (Los Angeles Times)
"Lewycka is a writer with a fundamentally optimistic vision of the future and a healthy curiosity about the past." (Chicago Tribune)
"Charming, poignantly funny." (The Washington Post Book World)
All stars
Most relevant  
i am getting on in years and looking for a younger wife … interesting perspective considering i have two daughters lol

brilliant …

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Quirky story with many funny moments , yet touching. Great for long drives, a “ page turner”

Enthralling and perfectly performed

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I have been looking for a fun, philosophical, meaty, engaging, pleasantly political, brilliantly light-hearted but intellectually fulfilling novel for such a long time! As if my life depended on it! And lusciously narrated as well!

Loved it!

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Very different and very engaging.
And most enjoyable.
We learn about two sisters and their changing relationship, about their father, about Eastern Europe during the war, and interesting aspects of the development of the tractor around the world.
I was completely absorbed in all aspects of this story.

Very different

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when people say they don't read fiction these are the kind of books I imagine they've read. i like clever satire like the sellout and i like popular comedy like sedaris, i even like the big bang theory. this i just don't find funny. an old man marries a big titted gold digger. mild shenanigans ensue

boring and unfunny

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