A Chip Shop in Poznan

My Unlikely Year in Poland

Ben Aitken author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Icon Books

Published:2nd Jul '20

£10.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

This paperback is available in another edition too:

A Chip Shop in Poznan cover

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.

A TIMES BESTSELLER

'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.

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 *

ISBN: 9781785786266

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 21mm

Weight: 269g

368 pages