Marina Lewycka: A short history of tractors in Ukrainian

Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was 84 and she was 36. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside."

The fluffy pink grenade and the sludge of sloughed off memories had me convinced I was going to hate Marina Lewycka's first novel. As it turns out, that over-burdened third sentence is the only bad one in this perceptive, funny book.

Vera, who tells the story, has been feuding with her older sister ever since their mother died, and, in a half-acknowledged way, for much longer than that. Her sister was born during the war, she was born in peace-time, and somehow that has always stood between them. But now they have a common enemy. Valentina, their preposterous young stepmother, is trying to screw every last penny out of their father. With some difficulty, the sisters put their differences aside and go to work.

Why does a man in his 80s suddenly decide to marry someone young enough to be his granddaughter, when any sane person can see she's only after his money? One of the many strengths of Lewycka's story is that instead of opting for the obvious nudge-nudge, wink-wink answer, she actually slows down and takes this question seriously. Vera's father, himself a Ukrainian immigrant with some horrific war experiences behind him, emerges as an exasperating, complex, ultimately lovable figure.

A great deal of the history of Ukraine emerges at the same time. Lewycka, who as her name suggests is of Ukrainian extraction, integrates this information with her story effortlessly, weaving back and forth through time to show us the world these characters have come out of, and to allow Vera, in the end, to understand her sister for the first time.

I can imagine book clubs getting a lot of mileage out of this book. It's subtle, it's wise, it's full of lovely moments. One of my favourite publishing events has just occurred: a good novelist has appeared out of nowhere.

* David Larsen is an Auckland reviewer.

* Viking, $29.95