Why this book exists
A focused place to understand what is happening
Zofia is forty-four. She came to Manchester from Poland in 2007, when she was twenty-six, with one suitcase and enough English to order food and not enough to argue. Here is what she has now. A British passport. A house. A senior position in a company that would struggle without her. English so good that people tell her, as a compliment, that they cannot hear it. Two children, born here, entirely English. Friends. A book group. A view about the bins. By every measure anybody uses, Zofia is a success. She is the thing everybody had in mind. If you wanted to design a person to put on a poster, you would design Zofia. And in March she stood in a supermarket in Stockport and cried because of a smell.
The writing is designed to reduce shame, bring the underlying pattern into view and give you practical ways to respond without pretending that every life follows the same formula.
