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A Chip Shop in Poznan :My Unlikely Year in Poland
A Chip Shop in Poznan :My Unlikely Year in Poland
paperback
Published:
2 July, 2020
Popular Books by Ben Aitken
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Description
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.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9781785786266 |
| ISBN10 | 1785786261 |
| Number Of Pages | 368 |
| Item Weight | 269 g |
| Product Dimensions | 129 x 198 x 21 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Icon Books |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
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 *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
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.