This book won the 2008 Orange Prize - deservedly, in my humble opinion.It's about 39-year-old widower, Lev, who leaves his young daughter with his mother in some unnamed Eastern European country and comes to Britain to get the money he needs to support them.
On the long coach journey he finds himself sitting next to Lydia, who, unlike Lev, speaks almost perfect English. They strike up a friendship that is Lev's salvation on many occasions as he struggles to settle into an alien London.
Lev eventually gets a job at a posh restaurant, where he develops a real interest in food and cooking. He also forms a relationship with Sophie, the sous-chef. But he can't get on with her arty, poseurish (he thinks) friends, which creates major problems.
You find yourself rooting for Lev very easily and feel his pain and confusion as he's torn between his family back in his home-country and his desire to start a new life in England. Which place is home?
Apart from an unconvincing section which has Lev struggling to read (and identify with) Hamlet (as if...) the rest of the book is really convincing, and Rose Tremain manages to avoid glib solutions. A really good book, thoroughly recommended.
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