Andrea Levy: Small Island

My latest read is a little gem by Andrea Levy - British author of Jamaican descent - called Small Island. Published in 2005, this heartfelt novel won both the Orange Prize for fiction and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and is now a two-part BBC drama. The story takes place in 1848, although the plot shifts continuously backward and forward  - as well as from one to the other of the four main characters - so the effect is much like flipping through the pages of a photo album. The story is centered around the difficult encouter between Jamaicans moving to Britain, the Mother Country, - many of them after serving it during World War II - and local British people having to come to terms with an increased wave of immigrants, after having fought foreign peoples for the safety of their nation.
The strongest element in the book are the four main characters, thanks to the way Levy shifts from one's perspective to the other, revealing the motives behind seemingly harsh or cold attitudes, with an eye of compassion and wit. Hortense and Gilbert - along with heartthrob Michael Roberts - are the main Jamaican characters, who we get to know both in their home country (the Small Island of the title - at least, one of them) and when Hortense moves to London to join her husband, whom she barely knows. The hardships and racism they face as blacks in post-war Britain are the counterpoint to another difficult household: their landlords' family, consisting of Queenie and Bernard Bligh. Beautiful Queenie has escaped life as a butcher's daughter only to marry a dull banker. While she is one of the most likeable characters from the start, it takes a shift to his point of view and the retelling of his traumatic experience as an RAF in India to understand and feel compassionate towards the rigid and reserved Bernard.
Far from being an abstract historical inquiry, the novel portrays Colonialism, war, racism and the problems of immigration through the everyday pain that people inflict upon each other. Much like recent literary phenomenon The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Small Island sheds light on a complex historical turning-point with humor and grace. All characters see their dreams and aspirations partly deluded, as they struggle for acceptance in one way or the other. But the novel's outlook is anything but bleak, as the individuals' strength and kindheartedness show the only way for peoples and races to unite. The way these four people struggle to adjust to each other is sometimes fierce, sometimes hilarious, but always achingly human.
The novel is very well plotted, with a tender and unexpected outcome for the two couples. But mostly it's the brilliant characters that make the story come alive, thanks to Levy's linguistic skill that pitches their voices perfectly. If you're into historical fiction, but most of all, if you want a novel that is engrossing, moving and funny, make sure you pick this one up.