Special
Price
Publication Date: 04/07/2019 ISBN: 9781785785580 Category:

A Chip Shop in Poznan

Ben Aitken

Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Publication Date: 04/07/2019 ISBN: 9781785785580 Category:
Paperback / Softback

Original price was: £12.99.Current price is: £11.69.

Become the envy of all book lovers with your own Mr B’s sticker to show off where you do your shopping.

Quantity:

Mr B's review

Three months before THAT referendum, Ben Aitken made a contrary decision – to skip out on England and move to Poland; to experience the homeland that the thousands who’d done the opposite had left behind. Through an often hilarious diary-style narrative we explore modern Poland, with many nods to its communist and more distant past. From beaches to farms; from mountains to that chippy, it’s the encounters with the Poles themselves that stand out; and their love of coleslaw.

Description

‘One of the funniest books of the year’ – Paul Ross, talkRADIO

WARNING: CONTAINS AN UNLIKELY IMMIGRANT, AN UNSUNG COUNTRY, A BUMPY ROMANCE, SEVERAL SHATTERED PRECONCEPTIONS, TRACES OF INSIGHT, A DOZEN NUNS AND A REFERENDUM.

Not many Brits move to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop.

Fewer still come back wanting to be a Member of the European Parliament.

In 2016 Ben Aitken moved to Poland while he still could. It wasn’t love that took him but curiosity: he wanted to know what the Poles in the UK had left behind. He flew to a place he’d never heard of and then accepted a job in a chip shop on the minimum wage.

When he wasn’t peeling potatoes he was on the road scratching the country’s surface: he milked cows with a Eurosceptic farmer; missed the bus to Auschwitz; spent Christmas with complete strangers and went to Gdansk to learn how communism got the chop. By the year’s end he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on – southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! – and an uncanny ability to bone cod.

This is a candid, funny and offbeat tale of a year as an unlikely immigrant.

Publisher Review

‘One of the funniest books of the year’ — Paul Ross, talkRADIO ‘A fascinating insight … Poland is a zone that has largely been ignored by talented travel writers [and this] is therefore a welcome addition. A captivating and entertaining account.’ * The First News (Poland) * ‘A clever, critical and witty travel book about Poland’ * Polish Cultural Institute * `A fascinating book […] We should know more than we do about Poland, a nation with which we have had centuries of interaction. Ben Aitken’s excellent book is probably the best place to start.’ * The New European * ‘Adeptly balances personal ruminations on love, attraction, and friendship, with cultural evaluations that subvert British stereotypes of Polish citizens […] An engaging romp through Polish culture, with a resonant political message of the importance of interacting with other cultures and preserving our ties with Europe.’ * The London Magazine *

Find this book on the following lists

Book experts at your service

What are you looking for?

A recommendation
Something specific
  • Mr B's Recommendation Station
  • Fill in the three questions below, along with your name and email address, and our book experts will be in touch soon with their personal recommendations

  • I'm after something specific
  • Tell us about the book, author or subject you're looking for, along with your name and email address and our book experts will be in touch as soon as possible