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Meet the Author in November 2020

William B. ForeignerskiGoodreads Author
Bornin Riga, Latvia
Websitehttp://williambforeignerski.ampbk.com/
GenreHumor and Comedy, Contemporary, Travel
InfluencesJerome K Jerome, Chuck Palahniuk, Elmore Leonard, Paul Vlitos, Irvine ...more
Member SinceApril 2019
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An overeducated busker, chippy and part time writer. Born near the geographical centre of Europe, I currently live in the UK. My first novel Stroika With a London View became a bestseller and the most read book in Latvian language in 2010. I have published four more books, two of which also entered the Top 10 of book sales in Latvia. Stroika is my first full publication in English, alongside some translated short stories.

Stroika with a London View
by William B. Foreignerski (Goodreads Author)
4.81 · Rating details · 16 ratings · 11 reviews
A poignant, down-to-earth account of the firsthand experience of pioneering Eastern-European immigrants in the UK. Lighthearted read with tongue-in-cheek humour, this is a book that feels like a heart-to-heart with good vodka. It gives a voice to several million people who currently live in the UK, and will be of interest to both Brits and foreigners alike. The novel is built around experiences of one young man who leaves Latvia for the UK in search of work. Much like Stephen Clarke’s hero Paul West, the protagonist finds a new and exotic world, full of unexpected challenges. Much like Samuel Selvon’s Lonely Londoners, he encounters both highs and lows, and narrates his experiences in a rough and easy manner of a proletarian fed up with being a working class hero. And much like Adiga’s protagonist from The White Tiger, he observes with dark humour and compassion the life of the less privileged.
Essentially a tale of culture shock, the book is like a necklace made of funny anecdotes on a string of a criminal plot. Upon his arrival in London, Will Foreignerski struggles to find a job. He is forced to busk on the underground for his rent and browse rubbish bins for food. Eventually, he finds a job in construction (hence the title of the novel – stroika means construction site in Russian). On one of his jobs, he is asked to do a shuttering for the concrete floor and later discovers that his employer has used it for hiding a dead body. What follows is an escalating tale of finding a place in a new strange world.