Conville & Walsh
literary agency
Ludmila’s Broken English
- Author: DBC Pierre
- Category: Fiction
- Publisher: Faber(UK)/Norton(US)
- Pub date: 2 March 2006
- Length: 332 pages
About Ludmila’s Broken English
As Russia’s Caucuses fall into bloody chaos, a separatist conflict takes hold of the tiny Special Administrative Region of Ublilsk. With its agricultural land spoiled and its only factory abandoned, the death of the Barzukov family patriarch means one of its children must leave to secure the family’s future. Only brazen, battle-hardened young Ludmila has any education. She even speaks a little English.
Britain’s privatization is almost complete. As the darkest crannies of the National Health Service are scrubbed and readied for new ownership, the last handful of unfortunates from the Empire House Institution is prepared for integration into the community. Of these, Ray and Claud-Marie are the last to emerge. They have much living to catch up on. For Ray, this means finding a woman – a soft, servile girl to share his newfound love of himself. None such exist in New Britain. But there’s always the Web…
Irreverently symbolic of the affluent West’s search of endorsement and satisfaction among the world’s hungry, LUDMILA’S BROKEN ENGLISH is a tragic romance in the age of globalization.
About the Author
DBC Pierre has worked as a designer and cartoonist, and currently lives in Ireland. His first novel, VERNON GOD LITTLE, won the 2003 Bollinger Everyman Woodhouse Award, the 2003 Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, and the 2003 Man Booker Prize, and is sold in 43 countries.