Books
by Andrea Levy
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Fruit of the Lemon |
Born and raised in England, Faith knows that her Jamaican parents travelled as newly-weds to England on a banana boat. Now grown and at an impasse in her life, Faith is unexpectedly invited to return to Jamaica to meet her relatives. This intelligently humorous book will entertain you with sharp observations about modern British life, and the culture of Jamaica.
(Sharron Calkins - bwl 97 Summer 2020) |
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Small Island |
Gilbert, an ex-RAF Jamaican, returns to London expecting a hero's welcome. His wife, Hortense, joins him there in hope of a better life. They rent a room from Queenie, whose husband Bernard has failed to return from his wartime post. When he does, he is appalled to find black immigrants living in his house. Four unique narratives reveal the protagonists' individual passions and prejudices in a book that is both funny and touching.
(Siobhan Thomson - bwl 72 Spring 2014) |
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Small Island |
Centred in 1948 drab, down-at-heel London, four contrasting voices tell their overlapping stories: blonde, blue-eyed Queenie Bligh, her lacklustre husband, Bernard, and Jamaican immigrants, Gilbert Joseph and his wife whom he calls Miss Mucky Foot. It's funny, perceptive and moving in its handling of empire, racial prejudice, people's preconceptions, war and love. A real corker of a book and a deserving winner of so many awards.
*Winner of the 2004 Orange Prize and the 2004 Whitbread Best Novel Award and the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year award
(Jenny Baker - bwl 28 February 2005) |
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The Long Song |
Let July, the narrator, be your guide: " . . . My son Thomas, who is publishing this book, tells me, it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within these pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed . . . " and read on to be well rewarded.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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