Almost English

Charlotte Mendelson’s moving novel Almost English looks into topics of identity, family, and clashing cultures. The drama, which takes place in a small West London apartment, centers on sixteen-year-old Marina, who shares a home with three elderly Hungarian relatives and her emotionally guarded mother Laura. Marina is desperate to get away from her family’s oppressive demands, peculiar customs, and intensely un-English pride.

She makes the momentous decision to enroll in Combe Abbey, a conventional English public school, but she quickly realizes that she might have made a grave error. Laura, meanwhile, struggles with her upsetting secrets. As the story progresses, love, secrets, and unanticipated connections entwine to create a complex and moving emotional tapestry.