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“East is East and West is Best?” – The Eastern European Migrant and the British Contact Zone in Rose Tremain's The Road Home (2007) and in Marina Lewycka's Two Caravans (2006)

Abstract The following essay explores the depiction of the Eastern European migrant in the British contact zone in Rose Tremain's novel The Road Home (Chatto & Windus, 2007) and in Marina Lewycka's novel Two Caravans (2006). It will analyse in which way London and other British places are constructed as spaces where Eastern and Western European cultures interact and clash and how the figure of the newcomer is employed to critically examine the state of contemporary British society. It will further look at how this meeting between East and West is also mediated through narrative strategies which illustrate the difficulties of successful intercultural communication and emphasise the Eastern European migrant's sense of belonging. Furthermore, the essay will investigate the liminal position of the migrant from the East between neighbour and stranger, as well as the affirmation and subversion of powerful national stereotypes in Tremain's and Lewycka's texts.