Lentils, free love, radical politics and family truths…”Various Pets Alive and Dead” is the wonderfully funny fourth novel from Marina Lewycka, author of the bestselling “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian”. For twenty years Doro and Marcus lived in a commune, convinced lentils and free love would change the world. They didn’t.

What they did do was give their children a terror of radicalism, dirt, cooking rotas and poverty. Their daughter Clara wants nothing less conformist than her own, clean bathroom. Their son Serge hides the awkward fact that he’s a banker earning loadsamoney.

So when Doro and Marcus spring a surprise on their kids – just as the world is rocked in ways they always wished for – the family is forced to confront some thorny truths about themselves…

Format: Paperback
Published: in UK in 2013
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Pages: 384
Language: English
ISBN 13: 9780241965276
ISBN 10: 0241965276