New Releases by Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy, author of the Man Booker shortlisted novel THE LONG SONG and the prize-winning, million-copy bestseller SMALL ISLAND, draws together a remarkable collection of short stories from across her writing career, which began twenty years ago with the publication of her first novel, the semi-autobiographical EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN'. 'None of my books is just about race,' Levy has said.'They're about people and history.' Her novels have triumphantly given voice to the people and stories that might have slipped through the cracks in history. From Jamaican slave society in the nineteenth century, through post-war immigration into Britain, to the children of migrants growing up in '60s London, her books are acclaimed for skilful storytelling and vivid characters. And her unique voice, unflinching but filled with humour, compassion and wisdom, has made her one of the most significant and exciting contemporary authors. This collection opens with an essay about how writing has helped Andrea Levy to explore and understand her heritage. She explains the context of each piece within the chronology of her career and finishes with a new story, written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. As with her novels, these stories are at once moving and honest, deft and humane, filled with insight, anger at injustice and her trademark lightness of touch.

Written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WWI, this short story by multi-award-winning, million copy bestselling author Andrea Levy tells the tale of two Jamaican service men in that conflict.

Una novela sobre la esclavitud en Jamaica«El libro que tienes entre las manos nació de un intenso anhelo. Mi madre tenía una historia que contar. Esa historia le pesaba tanto en el pecho que una fuerza superior a su propia voluntad la empujó a transmitírmela a mí, su hijo. Su intención era que, una vez conocedor del relato, llegado el momento oportuno, hiciera yo partícipes de él a mis hijas. Y así sucesivamente. La fábula no se perdería jamás y, de tanto repetirse, alcanzaría una grandeza solo comparable a la de las leyendas que se cuentan señalando con el dedo los retratos o bustos albergados en cualquier mansión de esta isla de Jamaica».

Als bevrijding geen vrijheid brengt 'Meesterlijke roman over de relatie tussen twee sterke vrouwen die niet mét en niet zonder elkaar kunnen: de zwarte slavin July en de blanke plantagehoudster Caroline. July is een slaaf die op de suikerplantage Amity leeft. Caroline Mortimer is een blanke vrouw die de plantage bezit. Het lange lied is hun verhaal, maar ook een verhaal over de negers die op het land van de plantage werken, en over de afschaffing van de slavernij, die wel bevrijding, maar geen vrijheid bracht. Dit is een indringende roman die geen lezer onberoerd zal laten. Levys unieke stijl trekt de lezer direct in het leven op de broeierige plantages van Jamaica. Prachtig geschreven, humor een juweel. FINANCIAL TIMES Tegelijkertijd een verhaal over de strijd van één vrouw om te overleven in verschrikkelijke omstandigheden, en een lofzang op de talloze slaven die meer deden dan alleen maar lijden en sterven, maar ook in staat waren om alles uit hun bestaan te halen wat ze maar konden. Buitengewoon goed en vlot geschreven. THE INDEPENDENT Andrea Levy is geboren in Engeland als dochter van Jamaicaanse immigranten. Haar internationale doorbraak kwam met de roman Small Island, die gelauwerd werd met een keur aan prijzen, met als hoogtepunt de Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best. Otto Biersma vertaalde eerder onder andere Marisha Pessl, Calamiteitenleer voor gevorderden, Mitch Cullin en Claire Messud. www.mouria.nl '

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.

A tale inspired by the years before and after nineteenth-century Jamaica's emancipation finds the willful slave Miss July moving into her mistress's great house, where she becomes a valuable confidante, learns to read, and witnesses the Baptist War.

A passionate and perceptive story full of the pain and the humour of growing up, from Andrea Levy, author of the Orange Prize winning SMALL ISLAND and the Man Booker shortlisted THE LONG SONG. NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE is the story of two sisters, Olive and Vivien, born in London to Jamaican parents and brought up on a council estate. They go to the same grammar school, but while Vivien's life becomes a chaotic mix of friendships, youth clubs, skinhead violence, A-levels, discos and college, Olive, three years older and a skin shade darker, has a very different tale to tell...

From the award-winning author of Small Island, "a bittersweet exploration of an outsider's experience of British culture" ( Bookmarks). Faith Jackson knows little about her parents' lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, Faith's fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work. At her parents' suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined. "Levy has chosen her title shrewdly: like the lemon, her loaded satire is bright and alluring, but its bite is sharp." — Booklist "Levy's raw sense of realism and depth of feeling infuses every line." —Elle "Bright and inventive . . . Levy's command of voices, whether English or Jamaican, is fine, fresh and funny." — The Observer

En el invierno de 1948, Hortense, una joven maestra jamaicana, desembarca en Southampton para reunirse con Gilbert, su marido, también de Jamaica y también negro Gilbert ha combatido en la RAF y quiere estudiar Derecho Ambos soñaban con Londres, el centro del Imperio, y estaban desesperados por abandonar su «pequeña isla» Alquilan una habitación en casa de Queenie, quien, como Hortense, ha utilizado el casamiento para huir de su provincia, y cuyo marido, Bernard, combatiente en la India y desmovilizado hace dos años, ha desaparecido misteriosamente, por lo que Queenie sobrevive alquilando habitaciones en su casa de Earls Court Todos ellos descubrirán que la guerra ha terminado pero que las batallas de la vida cotidiana pueden ser muy duras Gilbert tendrá que conformarse con un trabajo en Correos Hortense aprenderá que aquí es una oscura emigrante que no puede trabajar como maestra Y Bernard, cuando por fin vuelve a casa, se encuentra con que tendrá que vivir en una pensión de negros

Told in four distinct voices, the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004 is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, encapsulating the most American of experiences: the immigrant's life.