Small Island Book

Small Island by bestselling author Andrea Levy won the Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread. It is possibly the definitive fictional account of the experiences of the Empire Windrush generation. Now a major BBC drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Naomie Harris, its enduring appeal will captivate fans of Maya Angelou and Zadie Smith. 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...

Adapted for a BBC TV series in 2009, Andrea Levy's Small Island is set in 1948 as England is in the midst of recovering from war. Although Queenie Bligh's conflict has only just begun, as her neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers. Gilbert Joseph, one of several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler, remembers a wartime friendship with Queenie and knocks at her door. He and his wife Hortense had longed to leave Jamaica to start a better life in England, but both are shocked at the way they are treated, and how London is not the golden city they thought. Hortense also realises that even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was. The winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, Levy's profoundly moving novel 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.

The multi-award-winning, million copy bestseller... 'the literary equivalent of a switch-back ride' - Sunday Times Small Island by bestselling author Andrea Levy won the Orange Prize for Fiction, as well as many other awards, including the...