Summary of Small Island
“Small Island” is a novel about Jamaican immigrants in London in 1948, in the aftermath of the Second World War. Hortense and Gilbert, a married couple from Jamaica, travel to England with high expectations of British civility and opportunity. Gilbert, who served in the Royal Air Force during the war, quickly realises that Britain falls short of these ideals. Hortense, by contrast, clings to her dignity and education, and struggles to adapt to the realities of post-war London. The novel explores their experiences of disillusionment, racism, and adaptation, particularly through their interactions with their English landlady, Queenie, whose husband Bernard returns unexpectedly from the war.
Reasons to read Small Island
“Small Island” is an honest and moving portrayal of Caribbean immigration to Britain in the immediate post-war period. It explores themes of identity, racism, prejudice and the gap between immigrants’ expectations and reality. Andrea Levy was a celebrated British author of Jamaican heritage. Her novel “Small Island” became a bestseller, was adapted into a BBC television drama, and won several major literary awards, including the Whitbread Book of the Year (2004), the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (2005). It was included in The Guardian’s list of the 100 most influential novels in 2019 and the BBC’s Big Jubilee Read list in 2022. Another of Levy’s novels, “The Long Song”, won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2011.
Setting: Earl’s Court, London (England, UK)
Original title: Small Island
Year of publication: 2004
Nr of pages: 448
