Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Jan 2007
352 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work.
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....unfortunately, the tone shifts, and what was effective through understatement becomes a rushed unfolding of her family history, complete with diagrams of who begot whom." - PW.
"A somewhat abrupt ending and slightly flat secondary characters hinder but do not spoil this otherwise solid effort." - Library Journal.
"An enjoyable, deft combination of humor and telling observation on owning one's race and roots. " - Kirkus.
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Photo: Angus Muir
Andrea Levy is a child of the Windrush. She is the daughter of one of the pioneers who sailed from Jamaica to England on the Empire Windrush ship. Her father and later her mother came to Britain in 1948 in search of a better life. For the British born Levy this meant that she grew up black in a very white England. This experience has given her an unusual perspective on the country of her birth – neither feeling totally part of the society nor a total outsider.
In her novel Small Island she puts this perspective to work. She examines the experiences of those of her father’s generation who returned to Britain after being in the RAF during the Second World War. But more than just the story of the Jamaicans who came looking for a new life in the Mother Country, she uses her ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Andrea Levy's Website
Name Pronunciation
Andrea Levy: lee-vee
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