This is a book to satisfy the curiosity of the average Londoner about the sudden influx of hard-working Poles with their formidable and attractive women and exotic customs. It is also an insight into the older Polish community which came here as former soldiers and political exiles at the end of World War II. The articles were first published weekly in the Ealing Gazette and the Hammersmith Gazette in the years 2007/2008.
Being Polish is no joke. For ten million people of Polish ancestry in the United States, as well as many who have settled in the UK since the fall of communism, it is a heartfelt matter -- and amid all the travel guides and guides to Polish language, folklore, and customs, there is no single, comprehensive, reader-friendly and yet ever-informative reference on what it means to be Polish. Enter The Essential Guide to Being Polish -- the go-to concise resource for anyone looking to reconnect with their culture or, indeed, hoping that their friends, children, or colleagues learn something about their heritage. Divided into three sections to make for an easy-to-follow format -- Poland in Context, Poles in Poland, and Poles Abroad -- this guide covers just about everything and does so in a style that is at once entertaining and informative: the country's history and geography, wars, Jews in Poland, the communist past, the post-communist past and present, language, kings and queens, religion/Catholicism (with special focus on Pope John Paul II), holidays, food, and drink. What is a real Polish wedding all about? That, too, is addressed succinctly and with flair in this guide. Other chapters cover literature, music, art, famous scientists, Polish men and Polish women, Poles in America, Poles in the UK, Poles and the EU, and last but not least, Polish pride. From the Trade Paperback edition.
This luxury cruise was to test us. Others would probably give their right arm to participate in such a journey. If we still go ahead with it, even if it is the last hurrah in our long life together, will we survive it physically, financially, medically, mentally? And would we, by any chance, actually enjoy it? Or was that too much to ask.
TRANSLATED BY ALISON McCULLOUGH 'One of the best books on the many diverse migrations to London . . . revealing the extent to which the diversity of immigrant origins has had transformative effects - through food, music, diverse types of knowledge and so much more. The book is difficult to put it down' Saskia Sassen, The Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, New York 'The ultimate book about Great Britain's capital' Dagbladet 'One of the best books of the year! . . . This is a book about what a city is and can be' Aftenposten Is there a street in London which does not contain a story from the Empire? Immigrants made London; and they keep remaking it in a thousand different ways. Nazneen Khan-Østrem has drawn a wonderful new map of a city that everyone thought they already knew. She travels around the city, meeting the very people who have created a truly unique metropolis, and shows how London's incredible development is directly attributable to the many different groups of immigrants who arrived after the Second World War, in part due to the Nationality Act of 1948. Her book reveals the historical, cultural and political changes within those communities which have fundamentally transformed the city, and which have rarely been considered alongside each other. Nazneen Khan-Østrem has a cosmopolitan background herself, being a British, Muslim, Asian woman, born in Nairobi and raised in the UK and Norway, which has helped her in unravelling the city's rich immigrant history and its constant ongoing evolution. Drawing on London's rich literature and its musical heritage, she has created an intricate portrait of a strikingly multi-faceted metropolis. Based on extensive research, particularly into aspects not generally covered in the wide array of existing books on the city, London manages to capture the city's enticing complexity and its ruthless vitality. This celebration of London's diverse immigrant communities is timely in the light of the societal fault lines exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. It is a sensitive and insightful book that has a great deal to say to Londoners as well as to Britain as a whole.
English Unlimited is a six-level (A1 to C1) goals-based course for adults. Centred on purposeful, real-life objectives, it prepares learners to use English independently for global communication. Through universal topics and activities, and a focus on intercultural competence as a 'fifth skill', this international coursebook helps learners become more sensitive, more effective communicators. Teaching natural, dependable language, and with CEFR goals at its core, it brings real life into the classroom and gives learners the skills and strategies to communicate confidently outside it. The 'Explore' sections provide the extra ingredients for enhancing communicative ability, from further development of speaking skills to independent learning strategies. The English Unlimited Elementary A Combo includes Coursebook units Intro to 7 as well as the e-Portfolio and Self-Study DVD-ROM.
Everyone has secrets that they'd rather keep hidden, but we all know that these private matters have a tendency of spilling out at the most inopportune moments. And when a privileged piece of information does leak out and it gets exposed, it can sometimes change our lives so drastically, that there's no turning back. For in that fleeting explosion when we first learn of the shocking deception, our world suddenly gets transformed into utter chaos and fear, and it typically has us running for shelter. The four main characters in this story, are all hiding something that they'd rather not have anyone know about. Regrettably, the terrible secrets which each one of them had buried deep in their past, begins to bubble to the surface. With deceit and murder lingering in the air, can any of them survive the consequences of having their pasts revealed?
Polish Cities of Migration analyses how Poland is transitioning to a new identity as a ‘country of immigration’, although its ‘country of emigration’ identity remains strong outside a handful of bigger cities. The book explores two interconnected puzzles: how Poland’s migration transition is influenced by the fact that it is simultaneously a country of emigration, and why migrants are spreading out beyond the metropolises, often settling with their families in smaller cities with limited labour markets, cities from which Poles themselves continue to migrate. It argues that migrants’ feeling of comfort in such locations can be explained mostly by network and lifestyle considerations. These link to impressions that local Poles – who used to be migrants themselves, and/or have family and friends abroad – possess pragmatic and accepting attitudes towards migration, particularly from Ukraine. The book is based on in-depth interviews with 37 Polish return migrants, 70 Ukrainians and 17 other foreigners living in Kalisz, Płock and Piła. Key concepts include migration culture, livelihood strategies and place attachment. The analysis is situated within a wide range of existing secondary literature and contributes towards understanding the impact of migration on Poland, Ukrainian labour migration and wider global migration processes in the twenty-first century. Praise for Polish Cities of Migration 'A nuanced portrait of a Central European country in an era of fundamental socio-cultural transformations brought about by migration ... A valuable and original contribution to the field of European migration research ... based on impressive empirical material.' Katarzyna Andrejuk, Polish Academy of Sciences ‘This superb book by a leading authority on Polish migration breaks new ground by focusing on smaller Polish cities and the simultaneous impact of continuing emigration, return migration and Ukrainian immigration in shaping Poland’s transition to a new country of net in-migration.’ Russell King, University of Sussex
‘The Charlton Men’, the first part of a trilogy set in South London, combines literary fiction with a love of football. Set in the historic surrounds of Greenwich and Charlton, the novel interweaves the rich heritage of the area’s past with contemporary themes of social disenfranchisement and a search for meaning. Set in the aftermath of the 2011 London riots, the story follows two “Charlton Men” as their lives become intertwined with the fortunes of their local football club. Lance, a Londoner, has followed Charlton his whole life – from childhood right up until his return from Afghanistan, scarred by war and feeling abandoned after the sacrifices he has made for his country. Fergus, an Irishman, comes to London to get a fresh start on life and finds himself falling in love not once, but twice – first with the club and the riots, and second with a mysterious Marilyn Monroe lookalike whose darker side ripples beneath the surface. Conflict arises, however, when his friend Lance falls for the same woman and the two men find themselves pitted against one another as competitors for her affection.
Sex. Yes. She remembered that. Wasn't that the thing that happened somewhere between the talking-and-going-out-to-dinner bit and the sobbing-and-eating-too-many-biscuits bit? Still, Bella was sure she could handle some -preferably before her as yet unopened packet of condoms reached their expiry date. She must be practically a virgin again by now, all sealed over like pierced ears if you don't wear earrings for too long. But the 'L' word? Uh-huh. No way. She never wanted to hear it again. There were things in her past which needed to be put well away, like the 27 boxes of clutter she'd brought from her old flat. And having changed her job, her town, her entire life - the one thing she wasn't about to change was her mind. What readers are saying about Love is a Four-Letter Word 'After I finished, I immediately flipped it over and started reading parts of it again.' 'The shock within the book was a complete tearjerker and I thoroughly sympathised.' 'Like all the best comic novelists, Calman crams her perky narrative with a host of highly diverting characters to surround her beleaguered heroine.'
The Polls of Heaven By: C. Paul Owens After Clint Greene sold his weekly newspaper in Ohio following the death of his wife, he returned to his family home in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky overlooking an unnamed town (for obvious reasons), the setting for a large part of our story. Soon after his return, Clint went down the hill to the business person’s morning coffee hour in the back of the town’s only drug store. Clint was looking for old friends who might still be alive, finding a few, very few. The coffee “club” was now a debate hour for these intellectuals who felt their purpose was to solve the world’s problems. Today it was climate change, possibly meaning the end of it all. There was also a belief that TV and a cynicism of the age had brought about a dramatic loosening of morals, especially among the young. The coffee clubbers had declared they no longer had a leader to guide them out of their troubles and threats of world’s end. Clint with two others who were new to him, with all the playfulness the situation called for, began a guessing game of who might be reincarnated to lead us out of our problems. This resulted in jokes of who among them was ready to go to Heaven and recruit this leader. The three coffee club instigators decided to form OMEN, Old Men to save Earth’s Neighborhoods. The three were veterans of three wars. The local editor and his woman were in the Battle of Chicago, rebels of the post-war rebellion against their society. Clint himself was a Marine in the Southwest Pacific jungles and the third began his war against his native Russia. He went over to the Allies as a fighter against the communists who had taken over his Mother Russia and his people. As a Cossack, the Russian’s tribe had supported the Tsars for four hundred years. After the war he’d found a girl in Britain, only learning later that she had borne him a son. He had been forced to leave to pursue and kill a fellow Cossack. The man had betrayed his people to Stalin, his identification of those fellow soldiers resulting in their deaths. The pursuit had led him to find a home in the Kentucky hills. After an accident and monthlong coma, Clint had found himself in Heaven as chairman of a committee to present the proposal before the Heaven Senate. His “return” had prompted him to visit an old Cherokee friend in search of his soul. Three men and their women, two weddings, a father’s search for his son and a question over the fate of OMEN’s future all figure in the story.
