Manya Wilkinson: Lublin

As three young boys set off from Mezritsh with a case of bristle brushes to sell in the great market town of Lublin, wearing uneven shoes and with unequal enthusiasm, they quickly find that nothing, not Elya’s jokes nor Kiva’s prayers can prepare them for the future in Manya Wilkinson’s new novel Lublin, described as a Tsarist Russian version of Stand by Me. 

Manya Wilkinson is a Jewish New Yorker living in Newcastle, where she works as a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. She is the author of the novel Ocean Avenue, short stories, and many plays and radio dramas featured on BBC Radio 4 and Women’s Hour. 

Chaired by Debbie Taylor, Mslexia.