Almost English
Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson, published by Picador in 2014, is a literary work that explores the complexities of identity and family life. This edition spans 390 pages and is presented in English. The story follows sixteen-year-old Marina, who lives in a cramped West London flat with her emotionally fragile mother and three elderly Hungarian relatives. Struggling against her family’s overwhelming expectations and cultural traditions, Marina seeks to escape her home life, only to find herself feeling even more out of place at a traditional English public school.
Readers will discover a narrative that delves into themes of cultural heritage and the challenges of coming of age. As Marina navigates her new environment at Combe Abbey, she grapples with her identity as a semi-Hungarian Londoner and the pressures of fitting in. Meanwhile, her mother, Laura, faces her own struggles, including the unexpected return of a significant figure from her past. This book presents a humorous yet poignant examination of family dynamics and the quest for belonging amidst cultural differences.
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Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013 and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014
‘I adored Almost English‘ Nigella Lawson
‘I read and ADORED Almost English . . . And now I will read everything she’s ever written’ Marian Keyes
Home is a foreign country: they do things differently there . . .
In a tiny flat in West London, sixteen-year-old Marina lives with her emotionally delicate mother, Laura, and three ancient Hungarian relatives. Imprisoned by her family’s crushing expectations and their fierce unEnglish pride, by their strange traditions and stranger foods, she knows she must escape. But the place she runs to makes her feel even more of an outsider.
At Combe Abbey, a traditional English public school for which her family have sacrificed everything, she realises she has made a terrible mistake. She is the awkward half-foreign girl who doesn’t know how to fit in, flirt or even be. And as a semi-Hungarian Londoner, who is she? In the meantime, her mother Laura, an alien in this strange universe, has her own painful secrets to deal with, especially the return of the last man she’d expect back in her life. She isn’t noticing that, at Combe Abbey, things are starting to go terribly wrong.
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