Books by Marina Lewycka
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
by Marina Lewycka
đ Winner of the 2005 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
â  Shortlisted for the Orange in 2005
â  Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2005
In this humorous family dramaâwhich was a major bestseller on release in 2005âtwo feuding sisters join forces to see off a glamorously unsuitable suitor for their widower father. It was named the 'funniest book of the last 25 years' when it won the Vintage Bollinger Prize in 2025. Peter Florence, co-founder of the Hay Festival and chair of the judges, said they came to the book fresh eyes and still found its humour fresh. Lewycka "has us at the title," he said, "and she rocks us on every page. And itâs a book that is reshaped by the 20 years since it was first published, by both the history of Ukraine and the story of refugee experience in the UK. The comedy is somehow both darker and more vivid.â
Interviews where books by Marina Lewycka were recommended
The Funniest Books of the 21st Century
This year, to mark its 25th anniversary, the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction declared Marina Lewycka’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian to be their ‘winner of winners’, that is: the funniest book of the last twenty-five years. We asked comedian Tatty Macleod, one of the judges, about the process of sifting through their longlist of the previous winners.
