Andrea Levy – författare

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for FictionIntroduction by Kit de Waal_______My dad was a man - most dads are. But my dad had been taught or was shown or picked up that a man was certain things and a woman was others. He was head of a family - a breadwinner. He should go out to work in the morning and come home at night. He had to discipline children and occasionally do things around the home that required some degree of physical strength. A man did not have to be loving and affectionate. A man had to know everything and never be seen not to understand the world. A man would help around the house only when asked but a man always emptied the bins.My dad was a man and he did what he thought was expected of him. But he couldn't understand when more was demanded. 'What!' he'd say if he had to take any of us to the dentist. 'Cha,' if expected to wash up. And 'Oh my God!' if my mum ever announced that she would not be in so he'd have to look after us._______'Humorous and moving, unflinching and without sentiment'Independent'Well told, does not dodge complexity and rings true' The Times

Introduction by Kit de Waal______I looked at the old photograph of Olive and me on the wall. Two little girls with identical yellow bows in our hair and happy, smiling chubby cheeks. But now Olive's arms were folded on the world. She was angry with everything, with everyone. And I had grown too big for our council flat, but not sure where else I would fit. Where did we belong? I answered my mum the only way I could. I said, 'I don't know'.______'As much about the painful, messy reality of family life - too much envy, too little love - as it is about race and identity. In this lively, crisp, raw voice, young black Londoners may have found their Roddy Doyle'Independent on Sunday'An inspired coming-of-age novel with a mature grasp of generational conflict, pressure to conform, and the fraught process of discovering one's identity' Scotsman

Introduction by Kit de Waal_______We're thinking of going home to Jamaica.'And my reaction was, 'For a holiday. Fantastic! How long for?''Not for a holiday, Faith,' Dad said hesitantly. 'Your mum and me are thinking . . .' He held up his hand, 'Only thinking, mind, of going back there to live. To get a little place and live.'I stared at my dad and thought about Fondant Fancies. My mind involuntarily remembered the price of them and I worked out if I could afford to buy my own. I looked at Carl as he tapped his fingers on the chair, desperate to get to somewhere he could smoke. I went to smile but I couldn't. 'Going home to Jamaica,' I eventually said. I had then intended to say, 'Fantastic! I can come and visit,' but instead I said, 'Why?''Your dad and me are getting old now,' Mum started, 'and we feel that you and Carl are grown-up, so we can go home and . . .'I'd stopped listening. Because what I meant by why, the question I wanted answering was, why Jamaica? Why is Jamaica home?_______'Reinforces Levy's reputation as an astute observer of modern British life'Financial Times'Bright and inventive, brought alive by the loving and humorous creation of Faith's colourful extended family, and its extraordinary history'Independent'Andrea Levy's third novel is easily her most powerful . . . from the first page you're caught up'Elle

Small Island by bestselling author Andrea Levy won the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize 'Best of the Best' as well as the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread. Possibly the definitive fictional account of the experiences of the Empire Windrush generation, it was selected by the BBC as one of its '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'.'A great read... honest, skilful, thoughtful and important' GuardianIt 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 don't approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but with her husband, Bernard, not back from the war, she has little choice in the matter.Gilbert Joseph was one of the many Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight Hitler. But when he returns to England as a civilian he doesn't receive the welcome he was expecting, and it's desperation that drives him to knock at Queenie's door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, who for years has longer for a better life in England, soon joins him. But London is far from the golden city of her dreams, and even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was.Small Island explores a point in England's past when the country began to change. In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a superb lightness of touch and generosity of spirit.'An engrossing read - slyly funny, passionately angry and wholly involving' Daily Mail'Gives us a new urgent take on our past' Vogue

Now a major BBC TV drama, starring Tamara Lawrance, Lenny Henry and Hayley Atwell.A Sunday Times bestseller (2011), shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, The Long Song by Andrea Levy is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel of the last days of slavery in Jamaica, for those who loved Homegoing, The Underground Railroad, or the film 12 Years a Slave.'A marvel of luminous storytelling' Financial TimesYou do not know me yet. 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.July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation named Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was present when slavery was declared no more. My son says I must convey how the story tells also of July's mama Kitty, of the negroes that worked the plantation land, of Caroline Mortimer the white woman who owned the plantation and many more persons besides - far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse.Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it. All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a novel they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orange Prize 'Best of the Best', the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread AwardWith an introduction by Monique Roffey________I did not dare to dream that it would one day be I that would go to England. It would one day be I that would sail on a ship as big as a world and feel the sun's heat on my face gradually change from roasting to caressing. But there was I! Standing at the door of a house in London and ringing the bell. Pushing my finger to hear the ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling. Oh, Celia Langley, where were you then with your big ideas and your nose in the air? Could you see me? Could you see me there in London? Hortense Roberts married with a gold ring and a wedding dress in a trunk. Mrs Joseph. Mrs Gilbert Joseph. What you think of that, Celia Langley? There was I in England ringing the door bell on one of the tallest houses I had ever seen.________'A great read . . . honest, skilful, thoughtful and important'Guardian'An engrossing read - slyly funny, passionately angry and wholly involving'Daily Mail'Gives us a new urgent take on our past' Vogue

Andrea Levy's final publication - a collection of short stories she had written over her career________'None of my books is just about race,' Levy has said.'They're about people and history.' Her novels have triumphantly given voice to the people and stories that might have slipped through the cracks in history. From Jamaican slave society in the nineteenth century, through post-war immigration into Britain, to the children of migrants growing up in '60s London, her books are acclaimed for skilful storytelling and vivid characters. And her unique voice, unflinching but filled with humour, compassion and wisdom, has made her one of the most significant and exciting contemporary authors.This collection opens with an essay about how writing has helped Andrea Levy to explore and understand her heritage. She explains the context of each piece within the chronology of her career and finishes with a new story, written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. As with her novels, these stories are at once moving and honest, deft and humane, filled with insight, anger at injustice and her trademark lightness of touch.________'Moving, funny, gloriously well-written'The Times'Subtle and compelling . . . full of important insights'The Independent

'You do not know me yet but I am the heroine of this drama. I am told that here I must give a taste of what is to unfold. I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent days of slavery and the early years of freedom.'I am to say that it is a true and thrilling journey through that unsettled time.'Cha, I say, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just see it for themselves.'The Long Song is adapted from Andrea Levy's award-winning novel by Suhayla El-Bushra. It premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre in October 2021, directed by Charlotte Gwinner.

Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica. Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer. Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. Three intimately connected stories, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain.Andrea Levy's epic novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 – the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury.Small Island was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2019, in an acclaimed production directed by Rufus Norris. This revised edition of the play was published alongside the revival of the production in 2022.

This edition is the prescribed text for the English Mastery Secondary programme.Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. In these three intimately connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain.Andrea Levy's epic novel Small Island, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 – the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. It premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2019, directed by Rufus Norris.'Honest, skilful, thoughtful and important. This is Andrea Levy's big book' Guardian on Andrea Levy's Small Island