A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

In this comic first novel, two estranged sisters living in England discover that their addled elderly father, a Ukrainian war refugee and expert on tractors, is planning to marry a young, enormous-breasted woman who sees his modest pension as her ticket to capitalist comfort. The sisters put aside their differences, and embark on a spirited campaign to save him from boil-in-the-bag dinners, slovenly housekeeping, and such extravagant purchases as a broken-down Rolls-Royce. In the midst of these machinations-which include long-winded letters to solicitors, venomous gossip, and all-out spying-Lewycka stealthily reveals how the depredations of the past century dictate what a family can bear.