The remarkable, emotional debut novel, both funny and moving, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, from the critically aclaimed Andrea Levy, author of the Orange Prize winning SMALL ISLAND and the Man Booker shortlisted THE LONG SONG.

'Better opportunity' - that's why Angela's dad sailed to England from America in 1948 on the Empire Windrush. Six months later her mum joined him in his one room in Earl's Court...

...Twenty years and four children later, Mr Jacob has become seriously ill and starts to move unsteadily through the care of the National Health Service. As Angela, his youngest, tries to help her mother through this ordeal, she finds herself reliving her childhood years, spent on a council estate in Highbury.

An emotional debut novel, both funny and moving, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction

About the Author
After she passed away on the 14th of February 2019, the Bookseller wrote: 'Andrea Levy will be remembered as a novelist who broke out of the confines assigned to her by prejudice to become a both a forerunner of Black British excellence and a great novelist by any standards.' Born in England to Jamaican parents who came to Britain in 1948, Andrea Levy wrote the novels that she had always wanted to read as a young woman, engaging books that reflect the experiences of black Britons and at the intimacies that bind British history with that of the Caribbean. She was described by BBC News as 'a writer who tackled important social issues . . . her writing . . . witty, humane and often moving, and full of richly drawn characters'. She was the author of six books, including SMALL ISLAND, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and the Whitbread book of the Year, and was adapted for TV and for the stage, by the National Theatre. It was selected by the BBC as one of its '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'. Her most recent novel, THE LONG SONG, won the Walter Scott Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and was adapted for TV by the BBC.

Reviews
'The story is well told, does not dodge complexity and rings true' * The Times *
'Andrea Levy is the long awaited birdsong of one born Black and Gifted in Britain. Let her sing and sing and sing' Marsha Hunt * Marsha Hunt *
'An extremely powerful novel' * TLS *
'An interesting and touching book' * Daily Telegraph *
'Humorous and moving, unflinching and without sentiment' * Independent on Sunday *
'Levy's skill and cunning leave the reader shaken' * The Voice *
Andrea Levy is the long awaited birdsong of one born Black and Gifted in Britain. Let her sing and sing and sing * Marsha Hunt *
'The only disappointment is that after two hundred and fifty pages, it ends' * Literary Review *
'An interesting and touching book' * Sunday Telegraph *



Book Information
ISBN 9780747246534
Author Andrea Levy
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Headline Review
Publisher Headline Publishing Group
Weight(grams) 181g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 130mm * 17mm