Lublin by Manya Wilkinson

Elya is the lad with the vision, and Elya has the map. Zivand Kiva aren't so sure. The water may run out before they find the Village of Lakes.

The food may run out before the flaky crescent pastries of Prune Town. They may never reach the Village of Girls (how disappointing); they may wellstumble into Russian Town, rumoured to be a dangerous place for Jews (it is). As three young boys set off from Mezritsh with a case of bristle brushes tosell in the great market town of Lublin, wearing shoes of uneven quality andpossessed of decidedly unequal enthusiasms, they quickly find that nothing, notElya's jokes nor Kiva's prayers nor Ziv's sublime irritatingness, can preparethem for the future as it comes barrelling down to meet them.

Absurd, riveting,alarming, hilarious, the dialogue devastatingly sharp and the pacingextraordinary, Lublin is a journey tonowhere that changes everything it touches.