Small Island A Novel
Small Island by Andrea Levy is a novel published by Picador on March 30, 2010. This new edition spans 448 pages and is presented in English. The story follows Hortense Joseph, who arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948, carrying her dreams and heartbreak. Alongside her husband, Gilbert Joseph, who returns from war to find his status as a black man in Britain diminished, the narrative explores their experiences intertwined with Queenie, a white landlady, and her husband, Bernard, who grapples with his own challenges after combat.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of voices in Small Island, as it delves into themes of family life and the immigrant experience in post-World War II England. The novel captures the emotional complexities and societal barriers faced by its characters, offering insights into their lives and relationships. With its historical context and literary depth, this work reflects on the intersections of race, identity, and belonging, making it a significant contribution to world literature.
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An international bestseller. Andrea Levy’s Small Island won the Orange Prize for Fiction, The Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best, The Whitbread Novel Award, The Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer’s daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.
Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers—in short, an encapsulation of that most American of experiences: the immigrant’s life.
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