Strawberry Fields by Marina Lewycka

Strawberry Fields is a satirical novel that follows the lives of a group of migrant workers from Eastern Europe, China, Malaysia, and Africa who come to Kent to harvest strawberries for delivery to supermarkets.

They end up living in two small caravans, a men’s caravan and a women’s caravan. The novel is a biting satire of economic exploitation and a Canterbury Tales-inspired picaresque.

The main themes of the book are migration, exploitation, friendship, love, and the search for a better life. The characters’ stories are intertwined, but they each develop separately, making it easier to understand how they relate to each other. The book is both a road story and a love story, as each character gains a better understanding of their own nature and lets go of some of their illusions about life in the West.

What I Liked

I loved the story and characters. I like the parallel with the Canterbury Tales. The book does the job of literature really well – allowing you to live a small part of a life that you’d never a window into.

What I Did Not Like

Nothing – A+ book.