Completely absorbing story like one of those novels I read as a child and wanted to be left alone to read my book. Lev's story and his character are sympathetically and well drawn. I particularly liked the cooking descriptions and London environment. Highly recommended. ( )

This was a good listen, about Lev, a Polish man who has lost his job and his wife. He decides to go to England to work--at age 43, considered old for this--to make some good money to support his daughter and mother while his country struggles.

He goes, and though he has some downs, he has more ups. This book feels like a fairy tale, and I wonder how accurately it portrays an average Polish EU worker in England's experience. Lev makes friends, finds kind people (and makes you think about kindness vs taking advantage--where is the line?), finds people willing to share their knowledge. And everything works out.

Of course, the strangest thing about reading this just 15 years after it was published is that this book falls firmly in the realm of historical fiction now. Whether this was possible or probable or likely or not, now post-Brexit it is none of those things. ( )

In The Road Home, Lev, an immigrant to England from an unnamed Eastern European country, learns to stop worrying, to stop being so lonely, and to start following his dreams. I enjoyed this book, although I found it a slow read. I was not convinced by the plot elements that required every unattached female character to fall in love with Lev. Nonetheless, I recommend this novel to those who enjoy character-driven narratives. ( )

The Road Home was an absolute joy to read. The protagonist, Lev, is so well drawn by Tremain that he became alive for me, as well as the other characters in the book, specifically his best friend Rudy. You really feel for Lev as he is vulnerable, sensitive, kind, yet Tremain also has the courage to make him flawed, making him a much more well-rounded character. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for an educational, insightful and heartwarming story. ( )

It's a simple, friendly and gentle book about a complicated life situation.

A 42-year-old man, a widower, and father of a 5-year-old girl leave the village where he grew up in a weak Eastern European country and emigrates to London to find work and support his small family including his mother and daughter. The difficulties of immigrating to a new country, a foreign language and mainly a different culture, are not easy. Fortunately for the hero of this book, there are also good people who help him. The hero tries to survive, send money to his mother, keep in touch with a good friend who stays next to his family, and at a particular stage also dream of something better and more beneficial for him and his relatives.

This is an exciting book to read, mainly because the writer did not go in the direction of the pure kitsch where everything works out easily and quickly. ( )