Wolfy and the Strudelbakers

Set in wartime and post-war England Wolfy and the strudelbakers is a comic take on the disaster zone of displacement and exile. Wolfy lives with the 'strudelbakers' - his super-critical aunt and melancholy uncle - in the surrealistic world of refugees who have been granted shelter in wartime England. He is an expert at living in two worlds - the chaotic and dark world of uprooted, displaced people desperately hanging on to their Jewish religion - and the world of vitality, variety and temptation he finds in London's streets. Wolfy observes it all with a sharp eye; the bafflement of his English neighbours at the odd, secretive world of his Jewish family and their comical habits as they reluctantly learn to stop being 'aliens' and discover England through blitz, evacuation, menial work, school reports, team sports and Christmas. Yet for Wolfy this is the new and exciting world. He is a success as a budding Englishman. He lives near Arsenal Football Club, practises ballroom dancing with the help of the BBC and, of course, he is getting ready for girls. This wonderful novel is an enchanting blend of humour and crisp observation. A mix that gives it a rich and unusual flavour - the flavour of real strudel: complex, succulent and full of goodies.