Paweł Huelle

In the Polish city of Gdansk, our narrator Pawel tells of the driving lessons he took in the early 1990s, shortly after the end of communism. As he struggles with the tiny Fiat's gearbox, causing chaos while stalled at a crossroads, Pawel entertains his instructor Miss Ciwle with stories of his grandparents before the war and of his father in the 1970s, centered on their ownership of Mercedes-Benz cars - the outings, the races, the crashes and the inevitable repairs. Based on fact and illustrated with personal photographs, these tales contrast the golden era of Poland's pre-war independence with the dismal communist years, and with the uncertain new chapter in the country's history that had only just begun when Pawel was learning to drive. Huelle creates a portrait of three generations amid life-changing historical events.

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