Small Island

Author(s): Andrea Levy

Fiction

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as many other awards, Andrea Levy's SMALL ISLAND is a delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel of empire, prejudice, war and love. It has now been adapted into a major BBC TV drama. It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was...


Product Information

In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving, multi-award winning novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a lightness of touch and a generosity of spirit that challenges and uplifts the reader.

Winner of Orange Prize for Fiction 2004 and Whitbread Book Awards: Book of the Year 2004. Runner-up for Reading Group Book of the Year 2007.

Andrea Levy has written a beautiful book about four people, dealing with Britain, India and Jamaica. She writes with vivid, imaginative detail and you will find yourself swept along for the ride. Elisa, Book Grocer   'What makes Levy's writing so appealing is her even-handedness. All her characters can be weak, hopeless, brave, good, bad - whatever their colour. The writing is rigorous and the bittersweet ending, with its unexpected twist, touching... People can retain great dignity, however small their island'-- Independent on Sunday 'Every scene is rich in implication, entrancing and disturbing at the same time; the literary equivalent of a switch-back ride' The Sunday Times

Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents. Her radio appearances, and readings at literary festivals, bookshops and libraries have helped her to build an enthusiastic following. Andrea is the winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.

General Fields

  • : 9780755307500
  • : Headline
  • : Tinder Press
  • : 0.37
  • : January 2010
  • : 197mm X 128mm X 36mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Andrea Levy
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 823.914
  • : good