'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.
Recenzijas
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 *
Papildus informācija
Why do the Poles leave Poland? Travel writer Ben Aitken booked a one-way ticket to Poznan to find out. This account of his year is a bittersweet portrait of an unsung country.
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1 We are here to go somewhere else |
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1 | (11) |
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2 What's the point having a home if it means nothing to you? |
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12 | (11) |
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23 | (7) |
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4 The city doesn't shut up |
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30 | (4) |
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5 They wouldn't leave if they didn't have to |
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34 | (6) |
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6 Was your mother happier under communism? (Katowice) |
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40 | (8) |
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7 Sure there was equality. Everyone was screwed |
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48 | (8) |
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8 What would you say if I said that I often think about kissing you? |
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56 | (7) |
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9 Do you want to go to Gdansk? |
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63 | (8) |
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10 I'd rather be a man of the world than a man of merely England |
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71 | (7) |
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11 Do you want a job making fish and chips? |
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78 | (8) |
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86 | (7) |
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13 The morning of Britain's detachment (London) |
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93 | (5) |
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14 I just don't want any more to come (Boston) |
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98 | (10) |
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15 An important day for the whole country |
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108 | (6) |
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16 I love Others. I am one, for heaven's sake |
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114 | (9) |
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123 | (6) |
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18 I miss the bus to Auschwitz (Wroclaw) |
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129 | (11) |
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19 I don't know the colour of my father's eyes |
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140 | (6) |
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20 It won't be an ordinary shift |
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146 | (7) |
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21 What do the Polish do at the seaside? (Sopot) |
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153 | (9) |
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22 It's funny where hearts end up |
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162 | (5) |
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167 | (9) |
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24 The Manchester of Poland (Lodz) |
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176 | (11) |
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25 What time are the ambulances? |
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187 | (6) |
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26 I go to Harlow because a Polish man was killed there |
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193 | (11) |
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27 I wake up to snow and President Trump (Lublin) |
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204 | (13) |
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28 Everything is in the east if you keep going long enough |
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217 | (5) |
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29 Skiing is like peeling potatoes (Jelenia Gora) |
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222 | (13) |
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235 | (11) |
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31 You were never hungry. So be quiet |
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246 | (8) |
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32 The thing is, I'm not a Catholic (Krakow) |
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254 | (13) |
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33 I suppose it depends how you look at it |
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267 | (9) |
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34 And to think I almost died getting here |
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276 | (13) |
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35 It's okay because you can live with me and become a farmer |
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289 | (12) |
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36 A thirteen-mile souvenir |
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301 | (18) |
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37 The thing is to go, really, is to have gone, is to have been elsewhere |
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319 | (4) |
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38 We must be coming to the end of Poland (Cologne) |
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323 | (11) |
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39 I want to see the European Union |
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334 | (14) |
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40 And where are you going now? |
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348 | (7) |
| Acknowledgements |
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355 | (5) |
| Permissions |
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360 | |
Ben Aitken was born under Thatcher, grew to 6ft then stopped, and is an Aquarius. He was conceived by a nurse and a shipwright, grew up in Portsmouth and was in a boyband for a spell in the noughties, then worked as a carer throughout his twenties. He is the author of six books: Dear Bill Bryson, A Chip Shop in Poznan (a Times bestseller), The Gran Tour ('Both moving and hilarious', Spectator), The Marmalade Diaries, Here Comes the Fun and Shitty Breaks. He writes for The Guardian and The Times, was the TCG Travel Journalist of the Year in 2024, and is an occasional lecturer at the University of Portsmouth.
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