'Now, remember, Mila, we live about a five-minute drive away, your mother works at an office, and you're not Russian, your mother just liked the sound of your name." Mila nods vigorously-a model pupil, for now, at least.
"Any follow-up questions, then what do we say?"
"Mind your own business." "That's right.'
Porcupines begins in 1989 when the world has opened up again after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Szonja Imre travels from Budapest to visit her older sister in Los Angeles. She's an eighteen-year-old in search of adventure in the land of the free. But she is surprised to find that the sister she's always idolised has a very different idea of what it means to live the American dream.
Porcupines also begins in 2001, when Mila, Sonia's precocious, socially awkward 10-year-old daughter, concocts a scheme, inspired by those excellent life-bibles Sleepless in Seattle and The Parent Trap, to get her mother and the man Mila is kind of sure must be her father to reconnect.
The plan involves Sonia being corralled into chaperoning an orchestra of nine-year-olds (most of whom seem to be called Megan) on a road trip from LA to San Francisco, some badly spelled emails, a jar of several thousand jelly beans and a whole bunch of misassumptions.
Porcupines shuttles dazzlingly between these two time lines as the fallout from Mila's best laid plans has repercussions far beyond her imaginings, and the secrets Sonia has been holding tight to for the last decade spill out all over her carefully constructed life.
This is a deliciously funny and poignant story about family and history, immigration and belonging, and what happens when walls begin to come down.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Spectacular ... Destined to become an instant classic. Hollywood! Budapest! The Berlin Wall! A goulash made of diamonds, pearls and gold! * Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The View From Lake Como * Porcupines manages the rarest of things: depicting beautifully complex characters, while simultaneously providing a deeply comforting world. The best debut I've read this year * Grace Murray, author of Blank Canvas * Funny, acerbic, and wonderfully playful, Porcupines is a brilliant, cross-generational portrait of an immigrant family constantly assailed by whether they are American enough, Hungarian enough or Jewish enough. It's completely delicious: a novel to sink into * Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. Hemingway * Perfect for Elif Batuman fans, this is a wonderfully warm, witty read about mothers and daughters, sisters and lovers, migration and belonging, and what it truly means to feel at home. I loved it. * Julianne Pachico, author of The Jungle House *
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978-1-4059-7512-4 (9781405975124)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Fran Fabriczki was born in Budapest. She has lived in Los Angeles and currently lives in London. She read English at the University of Cambridge and worked in publishing for several years before going freelance to focus on her own writing. She graduated from the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing MA in 2022 and received the Curtis Brown Award for her dissertation. Porcupines is her upcoming debut novel.
