The whole book is a wonderful combination of Soviet realism,magic realism and outrageous invention... Zhenya's flight from the cold reality of the Soviet Union to London in the swinging Sixties is a journey well worth taking' Daily Express.

Sixsmith and the naively winning Zhenya lead the reader on a merry dance which teeters on the edge of and finally falls intotragedy. Easy and enjoyable' Morning Star.

When his mother confesses the unlikely secret of his parentage,Zhenya knows he must go west and find his long-lost father. His impossible quest takes him from provincial Vitebsk to Moscow and finally to London and the 1966 World Cup...