When I saw Polish words like przepraszam (excuse me) and dziękuję (thank you) for the first time, I was a little taken aback.

Overall, it’s an effortless task to empathise with Aitken, especially when you’ve been in his shoes. He soon gave up trying to live on his Polish earnings and used the income he had earned from his first book.

I came to the author from his previous travel book: Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island, which I believe should be read before this one, if possible, as an introduction.

RADIOWARNING: CONTAINS AN UNLIKELY IMMIGRANT, AN UNSUNG COUNTRY, A BUMPY ROMANCE, SEVERAL SHATTERED PRECONCEPTIONS, TRACES OF INSIGHT, A DOZEN NUNS AND A REFERENDUM. I've lived in Poland for the last twelve years, and so having a chance to compare my own experiences to those enjoyed by Ben Aitken meant that this was a diverting, enjoyable read. also, being polish myself, some facts and translations were not correct and i found it weirdly frustrating - was it that hard to double or triple check with one or two of the 700k poles living in the uk during the edit? It's a great pleasure seeing your own country through the beady-eyes of an author who decided to leave a' comfort zone' to gain a true life experience. His book is partly about Poland, partly about feeling disconnected from others and partly about Ben.The starting point is super interesting with a Brit going to Poland at Brexit times, forming his own opinion on Poland and trying to live a real polish life. I also admire that the author is so comfortable going up to people and just asking them questions, which is something I would certainly struggle with. Whilst I agree that the stereotypes of Poland we have in the UK are lazy and false, I actually believe Poland is not like anywhere else. The most uncomfortable aspect of this however, comes from the fact that the author admits to not taking part in the referendum. I don't see why it was necessary for the author to spend so much time detailing his smoking and drinking habits or describing his daily hangovers with such vividity.

Maybe it's my liberal snowflake beliefs but I feel like there should've been a greater discussion of privilege in a novel about immigrants, status quo and persona. The Marmalade Diaries (2022) is the story of an unlikely friendship during an unlikely time, and stems from the author’s decision to move in with an 85 year old widow ten days before a national lockdown. As Aitken pointed out: “Not only must I learn new letters – e and a and o and s and c have alternatives that are accessorised with tails and fringes – but I must also contend with familiar letters arranged in new ways, with the result that when one finds oneself in front of a door, and is invited to pchać , one doesn’t know whether to push or pull.

It was littered with humour and so descriptive that I could easily believe I was already there alongside Ben (in between peeling spuds and boning cod) as he staked out the various towns, cities, pubs and bars, meeting the queerest and dearest of folks, eating the weirdest concoctions and experiencing all the wonderful and sometimes dangerous (female) encounters along the way. literally going to a stranger's house in the middle of the night to have dinner, having a beer with a racist bigot to 'understand his perspective', sleeping on the sidewalk etc. As I stated before, for the author to put himself out into the public is admirable and I don't think it should be met with excessive judgement.