Baber's Apple

Baber Mittough's life takes an unexpected turn as he is catapulted from leafy suburbia to the murky alphabet soup of Kazakhstan's underworld.This compelling tale unfolds as engineer Baber is sold by his employer to a questionable Kazakh businessman. When the irresistible Irena and two ageing hippies befriend Baber, he begins to suspect his new job isn't quite all it seems. As things start to go wrong Baber is left with no option other than to make a hasty escape in a rusty old VW van with the unlikely companion Katerina, two stowaways and a cell phone that has only ever said NO NETWORK. For all concerned it's as well Baber has committed the Haynes Manual to memory... Set against a backdrop of suburban England and a politically turbulent Kazakhstan, Baber's Apple is both funny and tragic, a thought-provoking novel about family and friendships, old age and new beginnings.Marina Lewycka meets Malcolm Bradbury in this extraordinary first novel. A literary tour de force that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.