Published 2004 / Length 530 pages
Small Island tells the story of two couples: Jamaican ex-RAF serviceman Gilbert and his new wife, Hortense, who emigrate to Britain in 1948 hoping for a better life in the Mother Country; and British pair Bernard and Queenie, already living in London. After Bernard fails to return from fighting in the Second World War, Queenie makes ends meet by letting her shabby attic room to Gilbert and snobbish Hortense, who is horrified to find that England is very different to the genteel land of her dreams. Gilbert is distressed, too, as he realizes the English treat him with even more contempt now he’s out of uniform. But all this is nothing compared to how bigoted Bernard proves when he finally returns home to discover his house full of ‘coloureds’. In this lovingly researched tale of prejudice and ignorance in post-war Britain, Levy uses authentic dialogue and a first-person narrative to place an important part of history under the spotlight. Perhaps what’s most impressive is how she manages to portray both black and white experiences of racism with wit, compassion and an even hand.
‘The sheer excellence of Levy’s research goes beyond the granddad tales of fifty-year-old migrant experience, or the nuts and bolts of historical fact. Her imagination illuminates old stories in a way that almost persuades you she was there at the time.’ – The Guardian
• To what might the ‘small island’ of the title refer?
• Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from four different viewpoints? How successful was this?
• Bernard is a blinkered racist, yet his views are given as much importance as those of the other characters. What do you think the author was trying to achieve by showing events through his eyes?
• Reviewers have praised the book as ‘a wonderful insight into a little-understood period’. Do you agree? If at all, how has the book altered your perceptions of post-war Britain?
• Think about the characters’ situation at the end of the novel. Did anything surprise you about the ending? What do you imagine happens next?
• Small Island won the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, the 2004 Whitbread Novel Award, and the 2005 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best Book.
• Levy is a British-born child of Jamaican parents who came to London following the Second World War. Many of Levy’s mother’s experiences were used in the book.
• White Teeth by ZADIE SMITH – Smith’s tale of three immigrant families has been praised by Levy as one of the first books to bring black British writing to the bestseller lists.
• Brick Lane by MONICA ALI (see here) – describes a young Asian woman’s culture shock at coming to London from Bangladesh.
• The Emigrants by GEORGE LAMMING – on arrival in London, a group of West Indians are disillusioned by the realities of post-war Britain.