Excerpt from Strawberry Fields (Two Caravans) by Marina Lewycka, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The worst thing is, I seem to have picked up her habit, even though I know you shouldn’t judge people by appearances. But sometimes you can’t help it. Take us strawberry pickers, for example.

Although they are Chinese, the Chinese girls are definitely cultured types. One is a student of medicine and one is a student of accounting. I can’t remember which is which, but medicine is more cultured than accounting. The Chinese Chinese girl has her hair cut short like a boy’s, and she’s quite pretty, but her legs are too thin. The Malaysian Chinese girl is also pretty, but she has a perm, which looks stupid on that type of hair. Maybe it’s the other way around. They are friendly toward me, but they talk and giggle together all the time, which is annoying when you don’t know what they’re giggling about. Their English is terrible.

Next come Tomasz, Marta, and Emanuel. Tomasz is some kind of boring government bureaucrat, though he has taken a leave of absence from his job because he says he can earn more money picking strawberries - stupid, isn’t it? He claims to be a poet, which of course is extremely cultured, though there is little evidence of this, unless you count those dreary songs he sings whenever Yola is around. And, besides, he is quite ancient - he must be in his forties - and he has a pathetic little beard and hair almost down to his shoulders like a hippy. Koshmar! And there’s a dire smell about him.

Marta is educated, and she even speaks a bit of French, but that Roman Catholic– type education is full of rules and mysteries and lacks practical content - like Western Ukrainians. Anyway, Mother says that Catholic is less cultured than Orthodox. Marta is nice and friendly, but she has a big nose. Probably that is why she’s still unmarried at the age of thirty.

Emanuel is adorable, but he is not quite eighteen and also a Catholic, though he appears to be an intelligent type, and he wears a horrible green anorak even when it’s not raining. Of course he is black, but this does not make him any less cultured, because as any cultured person knows, black people are just as cultured as anybody else. He often sings as he picks strawberries in the field, and he has a beautiful voice, but he only sings religious songs. It would be nice if he sang something more amusing.

Vitaly is mysterious. He never gives you a straight answer. Sometimes he disappears; no one knows where he goes. He is clearly intelligent because he speaks good English and several other languages, but his manner is rather coarse and he wears a gold chain with a silver penknife dangling around his neck. His eyes are dark and twinkly with cute curly eyelashes, and his hair is black and curly. In fact he is not bad looking in a flashy curly sort of way. I would give him seven out of ten. Though he is not my type. Maybe he is a Gypsy.

Near the bottom is Ciocia Yola (strictly speaking she is only Marta’s aunt, but we all call her Ciocia). She is a vulgar person with a gap between her front teeth and obviously dyed hair. (My mother’s hair is dyed too, but it’s not so obvious.) She claims she was once a nursery school teacher, which is not a proper teacher at all, and she also claims to be the supervisor and puts on airs which are unwarranted and extremely irritating. She likes to sound on about her opinions, which are generally not worth listening to.

Right at the bottom is Andriy, the miner’s son from Donbas. Unfortunately miners are generally primitive types who find it di≈cult to be cultured, however hard they try. When he works in the field, I can smell his sweat. He takes his shirt on when it gets too hot and shows on his muscles. Okay, they may even ripple a bit. But he is definitely not my type.

As for me, I’m nineteen, and everything else about me is still-to-be. Fluent- English-speaker-to-be. I hope. Romantically-in-love-to-be. Are you ready, Mr. Brown? World-famous-writer to-be, like my Papa. I have already started to think about the book I will write when I get back home. But you have to have something interesting to write about, don’t you? More interesting than a bunch of strawberry pickers living in two trailers.

Excerpted from Strawberry Fields by Marina Lewycka Copyright © 2007 by Marina Lewycka. Excerpted by permission of Penguin Group USA, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.