Lublin

Author/Guide: Manya Wilkinson

Why a Booktrail?

1906s: Two boys head out to find the village of Lublin

ISBN: 978-1913505943
Genre: Fiction

Comment

What you need to know before your trail

Elya is the lad with the vision, and Elya has the map. Ziv and Kiva aren’t so sure. The water may run out before they find the Village of Lakes. The food may run out before the flaky crescent pastries of Prune Town. They may never reach the Village of Girls (how disappointing); they may well stumble into Russian Town, rumoured to be a dangerous place for Jews (it is). As three young boys set off from Mezritsh with a case of bristle brushes to sell in the great market town of Lublin, wearing shoes of uneven quality and possessed of decidedly unequal enthusiasms, they quickly find that nothing, not Elya’s jokes nor Kiva’s prayers nor Ziv’s sublime irritatingness, can prepare them for the future as it comes barrelling down to meet them.

Locations

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Poland
A: Mezritsh

Travel Guide

Lublin and Mezritsh

Mezritsh – the name of the town in the Pale of Settlement where the three boys in the book set off on their trip to Lublin so they can sell things at the market and make money.

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland. Its location at the eastern borders of the Polish lands gave it military significance.

Booktrailer Review

A very unique story of three young boys who leave their village Lublin in Poland and head to the big city to do business. There’s no story as such, but more of an observation of life, jokes, friendships and more.

It’s also a keen observation of political life at the time – there are soldiers looking to sign up people to the Russian army.

There’s lots of layers to this that I don’t think I fully appreciated – Jewish cultural references and life in Poland and the surrounding area at the time.

Unique and quirky with a soft heart at its core.