Andrea Levy – författare

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.

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

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

A Sunday Times bestseller, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and a BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Introduction by Sara Collins_____

You do not know me yet but I am the narrator of this work. My son Thomas, who is printing 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. 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._____''A marvel of luminous storytelling'' Financial Times''Levy has a rare ability to channel the maelstrom of history into the most intimate of human dramas''New Statesman

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction

Introduction 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_______

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

A Sunday Times bestseller, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and a BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Introduction by Sara Collins_____

You do not know me yet but I am the narrator of this work. My son Thomas, who is printing 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. 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._____''A marvel of luminous storytelling'' Financial Times''Levy has a rare ability to channel the maelstrom of history into the most intimate of human dramas''New Statesman

Andrea Levy, author of the Man Booker shortlisted novel THE LONG SONG and the prize-winning, million-copy bestseller SMALL ISLAND, draws together a remarkable collection of short stories from across her writing career, which began twenty years ago with the publication of her first novel, the semi-autobiographical EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN''.''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.

For the first time, a collection of Andrea Levy''s later works in ebook form, including the Orange Prize-winner SMALL ISLAND and Booker shortlisted THE LONG SONG. SMALL ISLAND is a novel that defined a generation; the story of two couples in post-war London, and their attempts to understand each other. It 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''. THE LONG SONG, Andrea''s final novel, was a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel of the last days of slavery in Jamaica, following the story of July, a slave on the sugar plantation of Amity. The collection is completed by Andrea''s last full work, SIX STORIES & AN ESSAY. A collection of stories from across her life, 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.

A collection that brings together Andrea Levy''s three early novels: EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN'', NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE and FRUIT OF THE LEMON. While Andrea Levy is best known for two of her later works, SMALL ISLAND and THE LONG SONG, these novels have a power all of their own. Her emotional debut, EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN'', was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and tells the story of Angela as she casts her mind back to a childhood spent on a council estate in Highbury, as she helps her mother care for an ailing father. NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE is Andrea''s passionate and perceptive sophomore novel, full of the pain and humour of growing up. It is the story of two sisters, Olive and Vivien, born in London to Jamaican parents and brought up on a council estate. They go to the same grammar school, but while Vivien''s life becomes a chaotic mix of friendships, youth clubs, skinhead violence, A-levels, discos and college, Olive, three years older and a skin shade darker, has a very different tale to tell . . . The collection finishes on FRUIT OF THE LEMON, a masterful novel which centres on young, ambitious Faith Jackson. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Through the weave of her aunt''s storytelling a cast of characters unfolds, in a novel that sweeps through continents.

Major public figures go back to their beginnings and uncover where they really startedJohn Wilson (acclaimed arts and culture reporter and journalist, and presenter of Front Row, Newsnight Review and Pick of the Week) meets up with a variety of public figures from such diverse fields as food, mathematics, politics, writing and music, and takes them back to the influential schools, teachers, and early workplaces they may have forgotten, but which have not forgotten them. His guests include the first Black trade union leader, Lord Bill Morris; classical violinist Tasmin Little; the late restaurateur and television chef, Gary Rhodes; Lord Digby Jones, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment; the late Women''s Prize and Costa Book Award winning author, Andrea Levy; veteran journalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo, and many more. The locations too are widely varied and richly formative - from car component manufacturers and specialist vocational institutions to grammar and private schools. Top of the Class is a fascinating look beneath the usual façade of a public figure, perfect for anyone wanting to see the human face behind a successful life story, as well as the teachers, mentors, best friends and rivals who helped them grow into the person they became.Episode guideFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:Bill Morris 28 July 2008Tasmin Little 4 August 2008Lauren Child 11 August 2008Gary Rhodes 18 August 2008 Marcus du Sautoy 28 December 2010Rachel Portman 18 January 2011Lord Digby Jones 25 January 2011 Michael Portillo 19 July 2011Andrea Levy 26 July 2011Production creditsPresented by John Wilson Produced by Sarah Taylor © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.