Small Island

Levy, Andrea

ISBN 10: 0755329015 ISBN 13: 9780755329014

Casa editrice: Headline Book Publishing, 2005

Riassunto

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.

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Recensione:

'What makes Levy's writing so appealing is her even-handedness. All her characters can be weak, hopeless, brave, good, bad - whatever their colour. The writing is rigorous and the bittersweet ending, with its unexpected twist, touching... People can retain great dignity, however small their island' Independent on Sunday, 25/1/0

'Small Island is a slyly humorous, rich feast of a book' Mail on Sunday, 17/10/04 (Mail on Sunday)

'Levy's book brings freshness and humour as well as indignation and pity to its survey of social and racial prejudice half a century ago' The Sunday Times, 28/11/04 (The Sunday Times)

'Every scene is rich in implication, entrancing and disturbing at the same time; the literary equivalent of a switch-back ride' The Sunday Times, 29/2/04

'Small Island is never less than finely-written, delicately and often comically observed, and impressively rich in detail and little nuggets of stories' Evening Standard, 2 February 2004 (Evening Standard)

'[Hortense] has guts and this portrait of her world is created with strong feeling that is subtly, and brilliantly, rendered' Sydney Morning Herald, 1/5/04 (Sydney Morning Herald)

'Wonderful...seamless...a magnificent achievement' Linda Grant (Linda Grant)

'Small Island operates on a larger canvas than Levy's previous novels. It's neither splashy nor experimental, but for thoughtfulness & wry humour cannot be faulted' Telegraph 21/2/04 (Telegraph)

'Funny, poignant and profoundly moving...Small Island deals with the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, love and war with such humour and compassion that Levy has been praised for her even-handedness by some, condemned for it by others' West Australian, 1/5/04 (West Australian)

'An impressive break-through novel' Publishing News, 23/1/04 (Publishing News)

Descrizione del libro:

In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel, Andrea Levy 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.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Headline Book Publishing
• Data di pubblicazione: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0755329015
• ISBN 13: 9780755329014
• Rilegatura: Audio CD
• Numero di pagine: 300